5m is better than a kick in the head, but it looks
like they bought Biofrontera, only to give it away :-(
I would say the chance that DPI will be safely inside
the 70-75m easy window has increased :-)
Galapagos will acquire the operational activities of DPI as part of its strategy to become a worldwide leader in drug discovery services, ranging from target discovery all the way through to the delivery of compounds with clinical proof of concept. The Company combines this services activity (BioFocus DPI) with internal drug discovery programs in bone and joint disease, where it aims to bring its own candidate drugs into the clinic. This hybrid business model enables Galapagos to leverage the broad drug discovery expertise of BioFocus DPI to generate revenues, while building a pipeline of candidate drugs for future partnering at various stages during their development phase. This business strategy validates Galapagos' technology and reduces the capital needed to develop its own candidate drugs.
The four operating companies of DPI strengthen and broaden the BioFocus product offering in the following ways:
* the Swiss operation has world class hit finding activities (assay
development and high-throughput screening), with access to over
600,000 synthetic chemical compounds, greatly expanding the
capabilities and collections of BioFocus;
* the German operation has an extensive collection of natural compounds
originating from Actinomycetes and fungi -- with over 140,000 isolated
sub-fractions, over 75,000 purified extracts and more than 1,000
isolated compounds, this platform complements the current BioFocus
expertise in synthetic chemistry;
* the San Diego operation has a lead optimization platform and chemical
library development capabilities which provide additional capacity for
BioFocus contracts. This site will operate as Galapagos' North America
headquarters;
* the San Francisco operation is a compound management facility
established through a multi-year contract with the National Institutes
of Health, one of the world's foremost medical research organizations.
This operation maintains a repository of small molecules to manage and
provide chemical compounds to multiple NIH screening centers. With
this compound management facility, BioFocus further expands its service
offering by marketing this infrastructure and capability to pharma and
biotech customers;
* The Tokyo sales office provides a physical presence for BioFocus in the
large Japanese market.
Galapagos will operate these companies through its service division BioFocus DPI. |
