Galápagos and NovAliX: Pioneering Drug Discovery Collaboration Fuels Innovation

An Innovative Collaboration for Drug Discovery

Galápagos NV and NovAliX have joined forces in a groundbreaking strategic collaboration aimed at revolutionizing drug discovery. This visionary agreement involves the transfer of Galápagos’ research and discovery capabilities, along with its dedicated team in Romainville, France, to NovAliX, a leading Contract Research Organization with a strong focus on drug discovery. With Galapagos renewing its commitment to oncology and immunology research, the collaboration aligns perfectly with its vision of becoming a fit-for-purpose research and development (R&D) organization, aiming to accelerate innovation, minimize risks, and expedite drug development timelines.

A Win-Win Synergy

Under the terms of the collaboration, NovAliX will acquire Galápagos’ drug discovery and research activities conducted in Romainville, France. This includes the transfer of Gálapagos’ exclusively dedicated employees responsible for these operations. In return, Galápagos gains access to NovAliX’s research capabilities and expertise through a five-year collaboration, enhancing Galápagos’ R&D portfolio. The financial impact of this transaction has been accounted for in Galápagos’ previously announced 2023 cash burn guidance, estimated to be in the range of €380-420 million. The transaction is anticipated to close this month of July 2023, pending customary closing conditions.

A Shared Vision for Advancing Drug Discovery

Paul Stoffels, CEO and Chairman of Galápagos, expressed his satisfaction with the collaboration, emphasizing its alignment with Galápagos’ Forward, Faster strategy and the organization’s transformation into a purpose-driven R&D powerhouse. Stoffels acknowledged the dedication and trust displayed by both teams throughout the negotiation process, highlighting the importance of ensuring the continued employment of colleagues in Romainville. He expressed confidence in the success of this long-term collaboration, foreseeing a bright future for the transferred colleagues working alongside NovAliX teams.

Stephan Jenn, President of NovAliX, echoed the sentiment of excitement, welcoming the integration of Galápagos’ drug discovery and research activities into NovAliX. He emphasized how this acquisition perfectly complements NovAliX’s expertise in oncology and infectious diseases. Jenn noted the collaboration’s significance, marking a new era of partnership models between Contract Research Organizations (CROs) and the biopharmaceutical industry, with the shared goal of accelerating therapeutic innovation. With a broad scope of drug discovery capabilities and innovative technologies, including DNA-Encoded Libraries and cryo-EM, NovAliX is poised to become a key player in various therapeutic areas, such as kidney diseases, fibrosis, and immunology.

NovAliX’s Cutting-Edge Drug Discovery Capabilities

NovAliX boasts an exceptional team of medicinal chemistry experts with extensive experience in biophysics, chemistry, computational chemistry, and molecular modeling. Their expertise is instrumental in supporting drug discovery programs, from target druggability assessment to lead optimization. The team’s accomplishments have been recognized through prestigious awards, including the Prix Galien International, European Inventor Award, and ACS Heroes of Chemistry, with a track record of successful marketed drugs in oncology and anti-infectives.

Identification – Unveiling Active Hits for Targeted Therapies. NovAliX employs a diverse range of screening platforms, combining chemoinformatics, medicinal chemistry, and artificial intelligence, to identify promising hits for specific therapeutic targets. The screening methods encompass a priori selection, fragment screening, covalent screening, and DNA Encoded Libraries (DELs) screening. The DEL platform, a robust approach to hit identification and lead generation, enables parallel screening of diverse chemotypes at a significantly lower cost than traditional high-throughput screening (HTS).

Hit to Lead – Refining for Optimal Potency and Selectivity. Selected active hits undergo a rigorous refinement process at NovAliX, with a focus on designing potent and selective analogs. The comprehensive drug discovery capabilities, including structure-based drug design, chemoinformatics, biology, and biophysical platforms, contribute to reducing attrition rates and producing druggable compounds. Front-loading strategies enable the building of preliminary structure-activity relationships to identify top candidates for lead optimization.

Lead Optimization – Delivering on Target Product Profile. Lead compounds undergo meticulous optimization to fulfill the target product profile criteria. NovAliX’s medicinal chemists play a vital role in enhancing potency, selectivity, and physicochemical properties while minimizing toxicity. Scalable production processes support compound access, ensuring the lead compounds meet the necessary standards.

Galápagos’ Sustainable Approach

Amid this exciting collaboration, Galápagos emphasizes its commitment to sustainability, acting as a responsible and ethical business. The company’s sustainability strategy is centered on a transition towards a sustainable society, with a focus on people, planet, trust & transparency, and innovation for patients. Through a robust materiality assessment involving various stakeholders, Galápagos identifies key goals and priorities, ensuring that environmental, social, and governance considerations are fully integrated into decision-making processes.

A Promising Future

The collaboration between Galápagos and NovAliX holds the promise of reshaping drug discovery, ushering in a new era of accelerated therapeutic innovation. By combining their expertise, resources, and vision, these pioneering organizations are set to propel drug development forward, ultimately benefiting patients worldwide and transforming lives for the better.

About Galápagos

Galapagos, as a fully integrated biotechnology company, is driven by a shared purpose: the transformation of patient outcomes through groundbreaking science and innovative solutions that enhance both the length and quality of life.

The company’s primary focus lies in the discovery, development, and commercialization of groundbreaking medicines. With a dedication to addressing diseases with significant unmet needs, Galápagos employs a comprehensive range of research and development capabilities, encompassing various drug modalities such as small molecules and cell therapies. Their portfolio encompasses programs spanning from the discovery stage to commercialization, with a particular emphasis on immunology, oncology, and other therapeutic indications. Galápagos has already achieved regulatory approval for their medicine targeting rheumatoid arthritis and ulcerative colitis, making it available in Europe and Japan.

Galápagos is driven by a mission to accelerate transformative innovation by combining pioneering scientific research, an entrepreneurial mindset, and a collaborative approach. This commitment led the company to venture into the field of oncology, CAR-T, and antibody therapy research and development in 2022. Through strategic acquisitions of CellPoint and AboundBio, Galápagos has gained end-to-end capabilities in CAR-T therapy development, setting the stage for a potential paradigm shift in the field. The company aims to implement a revolutionary decentralized point-of-care manufacturing model while leveraging cutting-edge fully human antibody-based technologies to design next-generation CAR-T therapies and biologicals.

With over 1,200 employees, Galápagos has established a presence across multiple countries, including Belgium (where their headquarters are located), the Netherlands, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, the Nordics, Switzerland, the UK, and the US. This extensive network enables Galápagos to leverage diverse expertise and resources in pursuit of their mission to bring innovative solutions to patients worldwide.

For additional information, please visit glpg.com or follow Galápagos on LinkedIn or Twitter.

About NovAliX

NovAliX operates as a drug discovery-focused Contract Research Organization (CRO) and boasts one of the most comprehensive biophysics platforms worldwide. The company excels in both chemistry and biophysics, utilizing several unique technologies to support research and development programs globally. Originally conceptualized to transfer academic knowledge into valuable industrial applications, NovAliX is privately owned by its executive management, scientific founders, and employees, with its headquarters located near Strasbourg, France.

With a successful track record spanning two decades, NovAliX has earned a reputation as a trusted provider of expert services to a diverse range of partners, from virtual companies to global players in the biopharmaceutical industry. Offering valuable extensions to their partners’ in-house capabilities, NovAliX collaborates through creative alliances tailored to individual needs. The company has been a pioneer in the practice of insourcing in Europe, engaging in risk-sharing collaborations with biotechnology investors, and forming a strategic alliance with a major pharmaceutical company to co-develop DNA-encoded library technology.

NovAliX’s management team comprises individuals with a harmonious blend of scientific, entrepreneurial, and operational expertise. Their passion lies in the dynamic interplay between industry and science, and they firmly believe that CROs will play an increasingly vital role in the discovery of new medicines.

For additional information, please visit www.novalix.com or follow NovAliX on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Engr. Dex Marco Tiu Guibelondo, BS Pharm, RPh, BS CpE

Editor-in-Chief, PharmaFEATURES