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Galapagos acquires Cangenix, a structure-based drug discovery company

15 January 2013 at 07:30 CET

Mechelen, Belgium and Canterbury, UK; 15 January 2013 - Galapagos NV (Euronext: GLPG) and Cangenix Ltd announced today that Galapagos has acquired Cangenix to add structure-based drug discovery to the Argenta service offering.  Cangenix's state-of-the-art technology will augment Argenta's ability to design new drugs and fill a growing client need.

Under the terms of the acquisition agreement, Galapagos will pay a total cash consideration of £1 million, with a further £440,000 potential earn out payment contingent upon achievement of certain conditions.  Argenta will integrate all of Cangenix's assets, know-how, personnel and service contracts.  The activities will be added to Argenta's capabilities in hit finding and medicinal chemistry.  The Cangenix team of 4 staff will join Argenta but will continue to operate the platform in its premises in Canterbury, securing a smooth transition of the business.  The acquisition will contribute to the Argenta revenues and profit for 2013.

"We welcome the Cangenix team and their clients to the Galapagos group," said Onno van de Stolpe, CEO of Galapagos.  "The assets and expertise of Cangenix really address a growing client need at Argenta.  We look forward to extending and expanding this business."

"I am confident that Cangenix's expertise in structure-based drug discovery services will enable Argenta to design better drugs for clients," added Prof David Brown, CEO, Cangenix Ltd.

About structure-based drug discovery
Structure-based drug discovery has been utilized within the pharmaceutical industry for over twenty-five years.  It plays an important role in drug discovery, design and lead optimization.  More recently its role in hit-finding has been highlighted with the advent of fragment based drug discovery with the potential to deliver more efficient hits and lead series.  The technology provides knowledge of the three-dimensional structure of drug targets.  Once the structure of the target is known, potential drugs are designed to 'fit-in' to the drug target, optimizing the interactions and facilitating the development of high-quality drug candidates.

About Galapagos
Galapagos (Euronext: GLPG; OTC: GLPYY) is a mid-size clinical stage biotechnology company specialized in the discovery and development of small molecule and antibody therapies with a novel mode-of-action.  The Company is progressing four clinical, six pre-clinical, and 30 discovery programs in cystic fibrosis, inflammation, antibiotics, metabolic disease,  and other indications.
Its lead program is GLPG0634, an orally-available, selective inhibitor of JAK1, for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and potentially other inflammatory diseases.  In two four-week Phase 2 studies, GLPG0634 showed improvement in the signs and symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis and a unique safety profile.  A 6 month Phase 2b study is expected to start Q2 2013 with top line data expected in Q4 2014.  AbbVie and Galapagos signed a worldwide license agreement whereby AbbVie will be responsible for further development and commercialization after Phase 2b.  Galapagos is also progressing two other clinical development programs with clinical readouts expected in 2013: GLPG0187, a novel integrin receptor antagonist in development for metastasis, is in a Phase 1b patient study; GLPG0974 is the first inhibitor of GPR43 to be evaluated clinically for the treatment of IBD.  This program is in a second Phase 1 study and will start a Proof of Concept Phase 2 study in Q2 2013.
The Galapagos Group, including fee-for-service companies BioFocus, Argenta and Fidelta, has over 800 employees and operates facilities in five countries, with global headquarters in Mechelen, Belgium.  Further information about the company and its drug development programs can be found online at: www.glpg.com

About Argenta
Argenta is a fully-integrated drug discovery services provider and a trusted partner for many world-leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.  Argenta combines a comprehensive range of discovery services with multiple disease area expertise including respiratory, oncology, pain and inflammatory disease, providing a compelling combination of scientific excellence, a full in vitro and in vivo pharmacology and DMPK capability, cutting edge medicinal chemistry thinking and cost-effectiveness.  Argenta employs over 145 scientists in the UK with an average of 17 years' pharmaceutical drug discovery expertise.  More information at: www.argentadiscovery.com

About Cangenix
Cangenix is a profitable gene-to-structure biotech company that provides drug discovery services to a rapidly growing client list.  It was formed in 2011 by scientists from the Structural Biology and Biophysics group at Pfizer Sandwich, UK.  Cangenix is a located in Canterbury, Kent.  Recognized as experts in the field, the Cangenix team brings over 70 years of combined experience in the application of protein crystallography and biophysical techniques to drug discovery.  Cangenix provides a range of crystallographic and biophysical techniques, such as surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC), using tailored biological reagents to accelerate the understanding of compound-target interactions and utilize structural, kinetic and thermodynamic data to inform drug design.  More information at www.cangenix.com

CONTACTS

Galapagos NV
Onno van de Stolpe, CEO
Tel. +31 62 909 8028
e-mail: ir@glpg.com

Cangenix Ltd.
Dave Brown. CEO
Tel. +44 1227 823 475
e-mail: dave.brown@cangenix.com

Galapagos forward-looking statements
This release may contain forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements containing the words "believes," "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "seeks," "estimates," "may," "will," "could," "stands to," and "continues," as well as similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements may involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which might cause the actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements of Galapagos, or industry results, to be materially different from any historic or future results, financial conditions, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Given these uncertainties, the reader is advised not to place any undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of publication of this document. Galapagos expressly disclaims any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements in this document to reflect any change in its expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based, unless required by law or regulation.

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