Galapagos awarded European Union grant

Mechelen, Belgium; 4 December 2006 – Galapagos NV (Euronext & LSE: GLPG) has secured a European Union grant of €500,000 for service division BioFocus DPI’s participation in PROLIGEN, a research consortium focused on enhancing regeneration of injured kidneys.

The PROLIGEN consortium, comprising a number of European companies and universities, aims to improve the regenerative capacity of injured kidneys, using information derived from genomics, proteomics, and functional genomics. Under the terms of the agreement, BioFocus DPI will use its SilenceSelect and FLeXSelect adenoviral libraries and cellular assay expertise to identify targets that can serve as starting points for the development of novel treatment methods for kidney injury. The resulting gene function information will provide the PROLIGEN consortium the necessary tools to deliver new biologicals and cell-based therapies for kidney regeneration.

“That Galapagos’ core target discovery engine can play such a central role in the EU’s new kidney regeneration research effort is gratifying and provides strong support for its potential application in other areas of unmet medical need,” said Onno van de Stolpe, CEO of Galapagos.

About PROLIGEN

The PROLIGEN consortium brings together selected academics, clinicians, and industry experts to deliver new therapeutic approaches to regenerative medicine. Consortium members include the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas - Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas de Barcelona and the Fundació Privada Institut d’Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge in Spain, the Klinikum der Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität in Germany, Genedata AG in Switzerland, ProtEra s.r.l. in Italy, Leiden University and BioFocus DPI in the Netherlands. PROLIGEN’s approach is to define and identify a set of proteins associated with functional recovery from renal injury, build up high throughput test systems to follow the basic biological process involved in regeneration and use these read out systems to identify novel targets, followed by development of biologicals and cell based therapy for the regeneration of injured kidneys. The European Union’s Sixth Framework Program is supporting PROLIGEN’s efforts with €2.5 million in funding over three years.

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.

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This communication reflects only the view of Galapagos NV. The European Union is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained in this press release.

SilenceSelect® and FLeXSelect® are registered trademarks of Galapagos NV and/or its affiliates.

Contact Information

Onno van de Stolpe

CEO

Galapagos NV

Contact via E-mail