Galapagos achieves milestone payment in rheumatoid arthritis alliance

Mechelen, Belgium – Galapagos NV (Euronext: GLPG) announced today achievement of a milestone under its alliance agreement in rheumatoid arthritis with Janssen Pharmaceutica NV (‘Janssen’). The milestone triggered a cash payment of €3.4 million to Galapagos.

In October 2007, Galapagos announced an alliance agreement with Janssen providing Janssen with option rights to acquire worldwide, commercial licenses to novel small molecules from up to 12 of Galapagos’ internal programs involving rheumatoid arthritis therapeutic targets. The milestone announced today is the result of one of these programs reaching the next phase of medicinal chemistry optimization.

About Galapagos
Galapagos (Euronext: GLPG; OTC: GLPYY) is a drug discovery and development company with small molecule programs in bone and joint diseases, bone metastasis, cachexia, anti-infectives and metabolic diseases. It has established risk sharing alliances with GSK, Janssen Pharmaceutica, Eli Lilly and Merck. Through an alliance with MorphoSys, Galapagos is also developing new antibody therapies in bone and joint diseases. Its division BioFocus DPI offers a full suite of target-to-drug discovery products and services to pharmaceutical and biotech companies and to patient foundations, encompassing target discovery and validation, screening and drug discovery through to delivery of pre-clinical candidates. Galapagos currently employs 490 people and operates facilities in six countries, with global headquarters in Mechelen, Belgium. More info at: www.glpg.com.

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