MtBaker schreef op 21 juni 2015 08:43:
GALAPAGOS: A SUCCESS STORY
Fee-for-service strategies and alliances helped to fund the early years of Mechelen, Belgium-based Galapagos NV, said its senior vice president of corporate development, Andre Hoekema, at Thursday's "How to Grow a Sustainable Biotech Company? Three Success Stories."
Galapagos used equity to build a preclinical pipeline and acquired chemistry screening libraries. A partnership with Glaxosmithkline plc also played a role in the company's advancement, as did a successful $275 million U.S. IPO and private placement this year, timed with the release of positive phase II JAK1 inhibitor filgotinib data in rheumatoid arthritis. (See BioWorld Today, April 16, 2015, and April 29, 2015.)
It hasn't all been smooth sailing, though. Hoekema described some headaches: pharma partners losing interest in therapeutic areas; interested executives who later leave the company; and partners deciding not to pay milestones despite a contractual obligation. "It is so frustrating because as a biotech there's nothing you can do," Hoekema said, later adding, "Make sure you have a mechanism to get that program you worked so hard on back if your partner chooses to put it on the shelf."