LONDON—GlaxoSmithKline is entering an alliance with Belgian drug discovery company Galapagos NV, through GSK's Infectious Diseases Centre of Excellence for Drug Discovery (ID CEDD), to license product candidates directed at as many as six anti-infective discovery targets.

 

The work will draw not only from the natural product compound collection at Galapagos, but also the chemistry capabilities of BioFocus DPI, Galapagos' services division.

 

This is Galapagos' first alliance in an area other than bone and joint disease, and "it shows that Galapagos can generate significant business in new therapeutic areas," says Onno van de Stolpe, CEO of Galapagos.

 

"The alliance will rely heavily on BioFocus DPI's natural product discovery capabilities," he says. "This alliance fits within our strategy of executing risk/reward sharing deals with big pharma and at the same time underscores our M&A approach and successful integration of DPI into the BioFocus service division."

 

Galapagos will be responsible for the discovery and development of natural-product, small-molecule drug candidates through to clinical proof of concept, at which point GSK will have an exclusive option to license each compound for further development and commercialization on a worldwide basis. Galapagos will have the right to further develop and commercialize compounds for which GSK does not exercise its option.GSK will pay as much as E3.5 million in total upfront fees to Galapagos, as well as up to E95 million in upfront fees, development and regulatory milestones payments for each product candidate. If a product is commercialized, Galapagos may receive up to E120 million for achievement of specific sales milestones. Galapagos is also eligible to receive up to double-digit royalties on worldwide sales of alliance products.