Galapagos (Euronext Brussels, GLPG; Euronext Amsterdam, GLPGA; London AiM: GLPG) is a drug discovery company with clinical and pre-clinical programs in bone and joint diseases, cachexia, and menopausal hot flashes.  Its division BioFocus DPI offers a full suite of target-to-drug discovery products and services to pharmaceutical and biotech companies, encompassing target discovery and validation, screening and drug discovery through to delivery of pre-clinical candidates.  BioFocus DPI also provides adenoviral reagents for rapid identification and validation of novel drug targets, compound libraries for drug screening as well as chemogenomics and ADMET[1] database products to select targets and compounds.  Galapagos currently employs 450 people and operates facilities in eight countries, with global headquarters in Mechelen, Belgium

Mechelen, Belgium and Osaka, Japan; 16 April 2007 - Galapagos NV (Euronext & LSE: GLPG) announced today that its BioFocus DPI service division has signed two new collaborations with Ono Pharmaceutical Company Ltd. (Tokyo: OSA).  These collaborations build on the successful relationship between Ono and DPI, which began in 2004.  Under the first collaboration announced today, BioFocus DPI will use selected compounds from its SoftFocus and other synthetic small molecule collections to perform high throughput screening for Ono's drug discovery program.  In the second collaboration, BioFocus DPI will apply its medicinal and computational chemistry and ADME profiling expertise in multiple medicinal chemistry projects for Ono. 

"We are pleased with the new contracts with Ono that build on the longstanding relationship between Ono and DPI.  The new contracts show the benefit of building a global drug discovery service business.  We combine expertise from our acquired companies Discovery Partners International, BioFocus as well as Inpharmatica, realizing the synergy in bringing these activities together," added Onno van de Stolpe, Chief Executive Officer of Galapagos. 

"We are dedicated to creating innovative medicines," said Dr. Daikichi Fukushima, Managing Director, Ono. "Accordingly, we are enthusiastic about extending the relationship with BioFocus DPI, a leading company in drug discovery, so that we can continue creating novel drug candidates."