MECHELEN, Belgium, June 20, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- Galapagos Genomics, the Belgian/Dutch functional genomics company, announced today that it has been awarded technology development grants in Belgium and the Netherlands, totaling Euro 4 million.
IWT (The Flemish Institute for the Promotion of Industrial Scientific-Technological Research) awarded Galapagos a Euro 2.6M grant for a project aimed at building libraries of specific human gene classes for the discovery of novel therapeutic targets. These targets will form the basis for the development of new pharmaceuticals. Senter (The Netherlands Institute for the Stimulation of Technological Development and Collaboration) awarded a Euro 1.4M grant to develop an adenoviral based knock-down technology applicable for in-vitro and in-vivo target discovery and validation. This should yield an efficient system to inhibit expression of selected genes in human cells, thereby providing crucial information on the functions of these genes. Two U.S. based companies are partners of Galapagos in this three years project.
The awarded projects will integrate several scientific disciplines including adenoviral vector technology, cellular and molecular biology, assay development and validation technologies. These will be integrated in Galapagos existing PhenoSelect(TM) platform and will thereby leverage its expedited discovery and validation of drug targets and protein therapeutics.
"We are pleased to have been awarded these grants, which will allow us to further broaden our functional genomics platform. At the same time, it is again an acknowledgement of the quality of our research activities," said Onno van de Stolpe, CEO of Galapagos. "These projects will fuel our drug target development programs, and direct the Company towards genomics based drug discovery."
Galapagos Genomics is a privately held company headquartered in Mechelen, Belgium. The Company has built a functional genomics platform using arrayed adenoviruses containing human genes. Its PhenoSelect libraries are in a format that enable high-throughput screening using cellular assays. Galapagos is using its technology platform for the discovery and validation of proprietary drug targets and for partnering with biotech and pharma. Its proprietary research programs focus on Alzheimer, Rheumatoid Arthritis and Psoriasis. The Company currently employs 84 people, including 21 PhD's, and occupies a 15,000 sq.f. research and production facility in Mechelen, with additional research laboratories in Leiden, The Netherlands. Galapagos' current partners include Pharmacia, Bayer, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Incyte Genomics, Exelixis, Procter&Gamble Pharmaceuticals, UCB Pharma, Organon (Akzo Nobel) and Euroscreen. The shareholders are Abingworth Management, Apax Partners, Burrill & Company, NIB Capital, Crucell Holland BV (Nasdaq:CRXL) (Euronext: CRXL) and Tibotec-Virco NV. For more information, visit Galapagos' web site at http://www.galapagosgenomics.com.