Galapagos expands chemistry services through contracts with Indian companies

Indus BioSciences and Sanmar Speciality Chemicals to support BioFocus DPI

Mechelen, Belgium; 23 June, 2006 – Galapagos NV (Euronext & LSE: GLPG), a genomics-based drug discovery company, announced today that its service division BioFocus DPI has signed collaborations with Indus Biosciences, a subsidiary of CiVentiChem LLC in Hyderabad, and ProCitius, a division of Sanmar Speciality Chemicals Limited in Chennai, both providers of integrated chemistry services to life sciences companies. Both companies will carry out chemistry services for the BioFocus DPI Discovery Products division, with an option to provide support for client projects conducted by the BioFocus DPI Medicinal Chemistry division.

India offers chemistry capabilities with a large resource pool of qualified chemists. Many pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies either have established their own facilities in India, or outsourced part of their chemistry to India-based contract research organizations. This outsourcing enables BioFocus DPI and its partners to benefit from the excellent cost-effective chemistry services available on the Indian sub-continent, while also enabling its clients to outsource work into Indus BioSciences and Sanmar under the management of BioFocus DPI scientists.

“These strategic outsourcing agreements with CiVentiChem and Sanmar complement our acquisition of DPI’s drug discovery operations,” said Onno van de Stolpe, CEO of Galapagos. “Our therapeutic programs, the alliance with GSK and the continuing growth of the BioFocus DPI customer base demand access to additional chemistry resources, and this is a timely move to ensure cost-effective capacity moving forward.”

"We are very pleased that Galapagos and BioFocus DPI have chosen CiVentiChem and its subsidiary Indus Biosciences for our value-added services in discovery R&D chemistry and custom synthesis to complement their internal capabilities,” said Bhaskar Venepalli, PhD, President and CEO of CiVentiChem.

“We are delighted to collaborate with BioFocus DPI. We believe that the target discovery and drug discovery services of BioFocus DPI would be well complemented by the chemistry research skills of ProCitius, enabling this partnership to deliver immense value to life sciences companies,” said Murli Ramachandran, Managing Director, Sanmar Speciality Chemicals Ltd.

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 320 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 CiVentiChem

CiVentiChem is a rapidly growing CRO company offering medicinal chemistry and custom synthesis services in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina and through its subsidiary Indus Biosciences, located in Hyderabad, India. Since its formation in 1994, CiVentiChem has established excellent working relationships with numerous leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. More information about the capabilities of CiVentiChem and Indus Biosciences can be obtained at www.cvchem.com and www.indusbio.com.

About Sanmar

Sanmar Speciality Chemicals is a member of the Sanmar Group, one of India’s most respected business houses. Through its research arm, ProCitius Research, with its state-of-the-art facilities, it offers world class services in contract research and custom synthesis. It has an impressive track record with major pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturers in Europe and the United States of America. More information about the capabilities of Sanmar Speciality Chemicals can be obtained at the web site, www.sanmargroup.com/SSCLmain.htm.

Contact Information

Onno van de Stolpe

CEO

Galapagos NV

Contact via E-mail