Galapagos identifies drug candidate in osteoarthritis alliance with Servier

Servier and Galapagos entered into an alliance in July 2010 to develop new oral medicines for the treatment of osteoarthritis (OA). The identification of the new compound, which inhibits a novel mechanism of action discovered by Galapagos, triggered an undisclosed milestone payment to Galapagos.

Galapagos chief executive officer Onno van de Stolpe said OA is a disease of high unmet medical need, and progress of OA-therapies has been slow in the pharma industry.

"This achievement also marks the third alliance with a different pharma partner in which Galapagos has identified a pre-clinical candidate. We are now starting with all the preparations to proceed further into Phase I," Onno van de Stolpe added.

Under the research agreement, Galapagos is responsible for the discovery and development of new candidate drugs while Servier has an exclusive option to license these after the completion of Phase I clinical trials. The exclusive US commercialization rights to all compounds discovered were retained by Galapagos.

Servier discovery research head Bernard Marchand said, "It is a major achievement in this therapeutic area where no disease-modifying treatments are currently available."