Shares of Belgium's Galapagos surged on today's news that researchers had pushed its experimental therapy for rheumatoid arthritis into a Phase I human trial.
GLPG0259-- targets protein kinase MAPKAPK5--is the first small molecule from Galapagos' target discovery platform to enter the clinic. Johnson & Johnson company Jannsen has an option to license the worldwide rights [1] to it for €60 million following a successful Phase IIa trial. And the developer earn another €776 million in milestone payments.
"Today's entry into the clinic is a true landmark for Galapagos," said Onno van de Stolpe, CEO of Galapagos. "This is the first candidate medicine based on our target platform to enter the clinic and I am extremely proud of our team who made this achievement possible. We moved this RA program from concept to clinic in less than five years. Furthermore, we possess a broad portfolio of programs that further solidifies our activity in this therapeutic area."
Galapagos stock jumped eight percent on the news of the Phase I trial.
- check out Galapagos' release [2]
Related Articles:
Galapagos inks massive RA deal with J&J [1]
Merck, Galapagos ink $233M obesity deal [3]
Galapagos buys structure-based drug discovery assets [4]
Links:
[1] http://www.fiercebiotech.com/story/galapagos-inks-massive-ra-deal-j-j/2007-10-24
[2] http://www.fiercebiotech.com/press-releases/galapagos-enters-clinic-rheumatoid-arthritis-candidate-drug
[3] http://www.fiercebiotech.com/story/merck-galapagos-ink-233m-obesity-deal/2009-01-09
[4] http://www.fiercebiotech.com/story/galapagos-buys-structure-based-drug-discovery-assets/2008-08-26