Licensing deal
Galapagos NV, of Mechelen, Belgium, signed a licence agreement giving Hillcrest Therapeutics Inc rights to its PPAR-delta technology for developing treatments for obesity and diabetes. The programme is currently at the stage of candidate drug selection.
Hillcrest, of San Diego, California, is a portfolio company of Paramount BioSciences LLC, a drug development and company capitalisation firm. Galapagos received €770,000 upfront payment, with up to €27 million to come in potential milestones, and royalties on any sales. It will also received an undisclosed amount of Hillcrest equity.
Galapagos acquired the PPAR-delta programme when it took over London-based Inpharmatica Ltd, in December 2006. Inpharmatica, a spin-out from University College London, began life as a bioinformatics specialist, later diversifying to apply its technology in house and build its own portfolio.
Paramount BioSciences will be responsible for completing the development, clinical testing, and commercialisation of the PPAR-delta programme.
“Galapagos is pleased to realise the upside of this drug discovery programme, which we obtained as a result of the Inpharmatica acquisition,” said Onno van de Stolpe, Chief Executive Officer of Galapagos.
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