| Galapagos and Cellzome in kinase drug discovery collaboration Mechelen, Belgium and Boston, U.S.; 19 July 2006 – Galapagos NV (Euronext & LSE: GLPG), an integrated drug discovery company, and Cellzome Inc. have announced that they are collaborating in kinase drug discovery. Under the terms of the agreement, Galapagos’ service division BioFocus DPI gives Cellzome access to its SoftFocus® kinase libraries and provides biological screening and chemistry expertise to find inhibitors of Cellzome’s kinase targets. In this service contract, BioFocus DPI receives an upfront payment for the library access as well as research fees. Kinases are an important class of drug targets often pursued by the pharmaceutical industry because of the vital role they play in regulating cancer and inflammatory diseases. Cellzome has developed a proprietary proteomics technology, Kinobeads, which allows the screening of kinases directly in extracts from cells or tissues. In this collaboration, the companies use Cellzome’s Kinobeads technology to screen the BioFocus DPI libraries for the identification of potent inhibitors against key inflammatory kinases in their physiological context. “We chose to work with BioFocus DPI because of the high quality of their SoftFocus kinase libraries and their specific expertise in screening. This allowed us to transfer our Kinobeads assay rapidly, and begin to identify small molecule inhibitors of particular kinase targets,” said Tim Edwards, CEO at Cellzome. “The collaboration with BioFocus DPI is progressing well; it is an ideal addition to our own in-house drug discovery capabilities.” “We are pleased that Cellzome has selected BioFocus DPI as a collaborator for its kinase research program,” said Onno van de Stolpe, CEO of Galapagos. “Hits generated from the SoftFocus libraries have produced novel leads for our partners, resulting in faster-than-industry-average progression through the drug discovery process. We believe this collaboration will contribute significantly to Cellzome’s discovery of specific kinase inhibitors of high pharmaceutical value.” About Galapagos Galapagos is a publicly traded, genomics-based drug discovery company (Euronext Brussels, GLPG; Euronext Amsterdam, GLPGA, London AiM: GLPG) that has drug discovery programs based on proprietary, novel targets in bone and joint diseases - osteoarthritis, osteoporosis and rheumatoid arthritis. Galapagos offers a full suite of target-to-drug discovery products and services to pharmaceutical and biotech companies through its division BioFocus DPI, encompassing target discovery and drug discovery services through to delivery of pre-clinical candidates. In addition, BioFocus DPI provides adenoviral reagents for rapid identification and validation of novel drug targets and compound libraries for drug screening. Galapagos currently employs more than 330 people, including 144 PhDs, and operates facilities in seven countries, with global headquarters in Mechelen, Belgium. More information about Galapagos and BioFocus DPI can be found at www.glpg.com. About Cellzome Cellzome is a privately-owned drug discovery company applying its world-class proteomics technology to the discovery of novel small molecule therapeutics. Cellzome is commercializing its assets and technology by collaborating with major pharmaceutical companies and by developing its own pipeline of small molecule pharmaceuticals, initially for inflammatory disease. Cellzome is working with Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research Inc, (‘NIBRI’) in a large pan-therapeutic collaboration discovering new drug targets and leads in a variety of diseases. The Company is also collaborating with Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical and Johnson & Johnson PRD, focusing on developing a series of small-molecule gamma-secretase modulators for the treatment of Alzheimer's Disease. In the development of its own pipeline, Cellzome is applying its proprietary Kinobeads technology to the discovery and development of novel, selective inflammatory kinase inhibitors targeting key inflammatory mediators in immune receptor signaling and chemotaxis. Cellzome is intent on developing both organically and through merger or acquisition. Its holding company is domiciled in the USA and it employs about 80 people at its two operating subsidiaries in Cambridge, UK and Heidelberg, Germany. To learn more about Cellzome, please visit the website: www.cellzome.com. For further information please contact: Galapagos NV |
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