European Drugmaker Galapagos Collaborates With Biotech BridGene Biosciences To Develop Cancer Treatments

On Wednesday, BridGene Biosciences Inc. announced a strategic collaboration and licensing agreement with Galapagos NV GLPG.

Under the collaboration, BridGene will use its chemoproteomics platform, IMTAC, to discover novel small molecule drug candidates against the collaboration targets. 

The parties will collaborate to advance the molecules to clinical candidates, which Galapagos has the exclusive rights to develop and commercialize.

The preclinical research collaboration will focus on oncology targets named by Galapagos. 

Galapagos will pay BridGene up to $27 million in upfront and preclinical research milestone payments and more than $700 million in clinical and commercial milestones. 

BridGene is also eligible to receive tiered royalties on net sales of each product resulting from the collaboration.

Tuesday, Galapagos and Alfasigma signed an agreement to transfer Galapagos' Jyseleca (filgotinib) business to Alfasigma. 

The agreement follows the signing of a letter of intent as announced in October 2023.

Galapagos expects to realize substantial savings ranging between €150 million and €200 million and will prioritize investments in its existing technology platforms of small molecules, CAR-T cell therapies, and biologics, as well as the scale-up of its CAR-T manufacturing network. 

In addition, Galapagos plans to invest in licensing and acquisition opportunities ranging from late preclinical to mid-stage clinical assets in its strategic therapeutic areas.

Price Action: GLPG shares closed lower by 0.41% at $41.17 on Wednesday.