Galapagos modified course earlier this yr, saying it no longer wanted to focus on cell therapy and would seek buyers for this business. After purchasing across the property for months, Galapagos discovered nobody else within the biopharmaceutical sector needs them both.
The strategic assessment and sale course of that began in Might yielded a limited number of non-binding offers, most of them from monetary traders. None of these provides got here with phrases or financing that may moderately help the cell remedy property’ future, in order that enterprise will wind down, the Belgium-based firm stated Tuesday. The choice adopted a complete assessment that took under consideration the funding wanted to take care of the cell remedy enterprise in addition to “evolving market dynamics.”
“Based mostly on this evaluation and in depth enter from its advisors, Galapagos intends to wind down its cell remedy enterprise,” the corporate stated within the announcement. “This intention to wind down the cell remedy enterprise goals to help a stronger and extra sustainable future for Galapagos.”
Not so long ago, Galapagos envisioned cell therapy as its future. The corporate aimed to enhance on at the moment obtainable cell therapies, that are made in a multi-step course of that includes harvesting a affected person’s immune cells and engineering them into focused most cancers fighters in a distant lab — a course of that may take a month or extra. Galapagos’s method employs know-how that allows manufacturing of those therapies on the level care or in a centralized location, shortening to a few week the time wanted to make and ship a remedy to a affected person.
Galapagos, which started in 1999 as a developer of small molecule medicine for inflammatory issues, introduced in January plans to spin out all of its assets, leaving legacy Galapagos focused on developing cancer cell therapies. The corporate revised these plans in Might, saying it might seek buyers for all of its assets, including the cell therapy business and its clinical-stage applications. Galapagos would then use its capital to amass or license clinical-stage medicine in immunology, oncology, and virology. It could additionally proceed a partnership that legacy Galapagos had with Gilead Sciences. Gilead retains an fairness stake in Galapagos.
Cell remedy is turning into a scorching space for dealmaking. Earlier this month, Bristol Myers Squibb reached a $1.5 billion deal to buy preclinical Orbital Therapeutics. That announcement adopted M&A moves by AstraZeneca, AbbVie, and Gilead Sciences. Every of these offers brings in vivo cell remedy platforms and applications that keep away from the complexities and infrastructure required of ex vivo cell therapies, together with the remedies Galapagos is growing. These offers additionally provide their massive pharma acquirers the chance to broaden the attain of cell remedy to the remedy of autoimmune issues.
Galapagos will not be alone in strolling away from cell therapies. In the beginning of the month, Takeda Pharmaceutical introduced reprioritization of its portfolio would result in the discontinuation of its cell remedy work. Quickly after, Novo Nordisk stated it might stop its cell therapy work as a part of a broader corporate restructuring.
The Galapagos board voted unanimously to approve the wind-down of the cell remedy enterprise, apart from two administrators appointed by Gilead who recused from the vote. Galapagos stated it should take into account “any viable proposal to amass all, or a part of the cell remedy enterprise” throughout the wind-down course of. Exiting cell remedy will result in the closure of websites in Leiden, the Netherlands, and Basel, Switzerland, in Europe; Princeton, New Jersey, and Pittsburgh within the U.S.; and Shanghai, China. An estimated 365 staff throughout these websites will lose their jobs. What stays of Galapagos will keep its headquarters in Mechelen, Belgium.
As of the tip of the primary half of 2025, Galapagos reported its money place was €3.1 billion (about $3.6 billion). That capital will go towards enterprise offers to construct a brand new pipeline underneath its new administration crew. In Might, the Galapagos board named business veteran Henry Gosebruch would succeed the retiring Paul Stoffels as CEO.
Galapagos stated the complete wind-down of the cell remedy enterprise is predicted to end in €100 million to €125 million in working prices from the fourth quarter of 2025 by way of 2026, and €150 million to €200 million of one-time restructuring prices in 2026. Galapagos stated an up to date 2025 money outlook can be supplied with the corporate’s third-quarter 2025 earnings report in early November.
Picture: Ekkaluck, Getty Pictures
