Janssen and Galapagos have mutually agreed to terminate their inflammation alliance and option agreements.
Alongside other candidates, Galapagos will obtain all rights to drug GLPG1690, a selective autotaxin inhibitor preparing for phase II clinical trial in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a chronic and ultimately fatal disease characterised by a progressive decline in lung function.
Dr Piet Wigerinck, chief scientific officer at Galapagos, commented: “We are pleased to regain the rights to GLPG1690 to pursue the most suitable clinical application of autotaxin inhibition.
“The alliance with Janssen has been underway since October 2007 and has generated three clinical molecules, two of which are now proprietary phase II assets of Galapagos: GLPG1205 and GLPG1690. This programme is a valuable component of our development portfolio and regaining the rights is a next step in our transformation into a mature biotech company with a proprietary product pipeline.”
Galapagos identified autotaxin as having a key role to play in inflammation with additional studies suggesting it may also be significant against metabolic disease, arthritic pain, oncology and lung disease.