Argenta to develop drug candidates for Janssen
Collaboration could be worth more than €33.5m
Argenta, a division of Belgian biotechnology company Galapagos, is to develop drug candidates based on multiple oncology targets with Janssen Pharmaceutica NV.
Contract research company Argenta, based in Harlow, Essex, UK and acquired by Galapagos in February this year, will provide medicinal chemistry and biology for a number of Janssen oncology targets in a collaboration that could be worth in excess of €33.5m over five years, depending on certain milestones being achieved.
Janssen retains the option to extend the services beyond the initial set of targets, up to a total of 15.
‘We are seeing an increased demand for longer term, integrated deals in our services business, which access a variety of our drug discovery capabilities and with Argenta's strong track record of delivering on integrated drug discovery programmes, we are well positioned to meet this growing need,’ said Onno van de Stolpe, chief executive of Galapagos.
