Galapagos, Arthrogen enter discovery alliance for arthritis gene therapy applications

By E. Janene Geiss

Philadelphia, March 30 - Galapagos NV announced Thursday that its service division, BioFocus, has entered into a three-year target discovery alliance with Arthrogen BV, a joint venture of the Dubai Bone & Joint Center and the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam.

The alliance focuses on identifying novel targets for gene therapy applications in rheumatoid arthritis, according to a company news release.

Under the agreement, BioFocus said it will extend its SilenceSelect collection with new gene sets, set up cellular assays and screen the expanded SilenceSelect collection in the assays. The human protein targets identified in the screens will then be characterized and validated.

In return, Galapagos said it will receive from Arthrogen an upfront payment and research and development funding and will be eligible for development milestones.

Should all criteria on a target be achieved, revenues for Galapagos with respect to such target may exceed €7.5 million. Galapagos also said it is entitled to receive royalties on any marketed products that may arise from the alliance.

"Arthrogen strongly believes that the dedicated target discovery technologies from Galapagos will increase the quantity and the quality of Arthrogen's product pipeline," Willem van Oort, chief executive officer of Arthrogen, said in the release.

The SilenceSelect target discovery platform is based on adenoviruses that efficiently introduce human gene sequences into a wide variety of human cells to knock-down specific proteins. High-throughput assays that represent a selected human disease state are then used to functionally select for those proteins that have a causative effect in those models of human disease. After rigorous validation of these protein targets, they form the basis for the development of novel drugs.

Galapagos is a Mechelen, Belgium, genomics-based drug discovery company that has programs based on proprietary, novel targets in bone and joint diseases - osteoarthritis, osteoporosis and rheumatoid arthritis. Galapagos offers a full suite of target-to-drug discovery products and services to pharmaceutical and biotech companies through its division BioFocus.

Arthrogen is a joint venture between the Dubai Bone & Joint Center in the United Arab Emirates and the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Arthrogen is working to develop innovative local gene therapy for patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

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