Galapagos, ZoBio, Pyxis and Leiden University enter arthritis R&D accord

Belgian genomics-based drugmaker Galapagos NV, Dutch firms ZoBio BV and Pyxis Discovery BV, together with Leiden University, the Netherlands, have formed a four-way, two-year collaboration to pursue a small-molecule drug discovery program in the area of arthritis. The collaboration is being part-funded by a grant from the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs. As a member of the collaborative effort, Galapagos will contribute its arthritis disease biology and a validated target for drug development, which has been discovered using its siRNA-based technologies. ZoBio will be responsible for identification of a candidate drug compound using its proprietary target-immobilized NMR screening technology, which will be further advanced via co-development with Leiden University. In addition, Pyxis will apply its expertise in computer-aided chemistry for the design of specialized fragment-based compound libraries that will be used to screen the target.