Other partnered programs
MOR106
MOR106 is a human monoclonal antibody designed to selectively target IL‑17C. We discovered IL-17C as a target for atopic dermatitis (AtD) and it has been shown to be distinct from other members of the IL-17 cytokine family, playing an important and pro-inflammatory role in certain skin disorders. MOR106 potently inhibits the binding of IL-17C to its receptor and thus inhibits its biological activity.
MOR106 arose from an alliance between us and MorphoSys, in which both companies contributed their core technologies and expertise and equally shared costs and benefits. In July 2018, we and MorphoSys announced that we entered into a collaboration regarding MOR106 with Novartis.
In October 2019, Novartis, MorphoSys and Galapagos jointly announced the end of the clinical development program of MOR106 in atopic dermatitis. The analysis of the program detected a low probability to meet the primary endpoint of this study. The decision was based on a lack of efficacy and not on safety concerns.
On 17 December 2019, Novartis sent us a termination notice, informing us of its decision to terminate the agreement in its entirety. The notice period for such termination is still ongoing, but we expect that such termination will become effective later this year.
CF program
Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a rare, life-threatening, genetic disease affecting the lungs and the digestive system, with 66,000 patients being diagnosed with CF in 2018 in the U.S., EU5 and Japan.1Sources: Decision Resources Group, Global Data, Galapagos Custom Research
Despite the approval of several drugs, there is need for better therapies to improve pulmonary function for a large majority of the patient population. Though many pediatric patients have normal lung function at the time of diagnosis, physicians generally believe that earlier treatments can have downstream benefits for the patient by slowing the deterioration in lung function.
In October 2018, we and AbbVie announced a restructuring of our CF alliance. AbbVie took over all programs in CF and will continue the development of a combination therapy for CF.
AbbVie obtained exclusive worldwide rights to the current CF drug candidate portfolio developed by the two companies in the course of the collaboration. The portfolio includes all potentiator and corrector candidates for CF, with the exception of GLPG1837 and a specific arrangement for GLPG2737. We retain rights to these two compounds for use outside the field of CF.
AbbVie is responsible for all future activities and bears all costs associated with the portfolio in CF going forward.
We are eligible to receive up to $175 million in additional milestone payments from AbbVie pending completion of certain development, regulatory, and commercial achievements in CF by AbbVie, as well as royalties ranging from the single digits to the low teens. AbbVie is eligible for future milestone payments and tiered single digit royalties on future global commercial sales of GLPG2737, if approved, in indications outside CF.