Shareholders
Major shareholders of Galapagos NV
Based on transparency notifications received by Galapagos NV under Belgian law and the statements of acquisition of beneficial ownership filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission under U.S. securities law, the shareholders owning 5% or more of Galapagos NV’s shares on 31 December 2023 and on an undiluted basis were Gilead Therapeutics A1 Unlimited Company (16,707,477 shares or 25.35%), Van Herk Investments B.V. (4,635,672 shares or 7.03%), EcoR1 Capital LLC (6,505,890 shares or 9.87%) and FMR LLC (3,903,804 shares or 5.92%).
Major shareholders on 31 December 2023
At the end of 2023, our CEO owned 1,050,000 subscription rights. The other members of our Executive Committee held an aggregate of 4,620 shares and 1,670,500 subscription rights. The members of our Board of Directors (excluding our CEO) held an aggregate of 6,423 shares and 7,500 subscription rights. Each subscription right entitles its holder to subscribe to one share of Galapagos NV.
Subject to the approval of Galapagos’ shareholders and certain other conditions, Gilead has the right under the terms of the share subscription agreement to have two designees appointed to our Board of Directors. The Board members Daniel O’Day and Dr. Linda Higgins are representatives of Gilead.
Agreements between Galapagos NV shareholders
On the date of this report, Galapagos NV had no knowledge of the existence of any shareholders’ agreements between its shareholders.
Agreements with major Galapagos NV shareholders
On 14 July 2019, we and Gilead Sciences, Inc. and its affiliated companies (hereinafter “Gilead”) announced that we entered into a 10-year global research and development collaboration. In the context of the transaction, Gilead also made an equity investment in Galapagos. We also amended and restated the license agreement for filgotinib that we originally entered into with Gilead on 16 December 2015. On 23 August 2019, the closing of the transaction took place and we received an upfront payment of €3,569.8 million ($3.95 billion) and a €960.1 million ($1.1 billion) equity investment from Gilead.
On 15 December 2020 and on 30 October 2023, we and Gilead announced that we agreed to amend our existing arrangement for the commercialization and development of filgotinib again.
Terms of the equity investment
As part of the research and development collaboration, Gilead entered into a share subscription agreement with us. On 23 August 2019, Gilead subscribed to 6,828,985 new Galapagos shares at a price of €140.59 per share, which included an issuance premium.
Subject to the approval of Galapagos’ Shareholders’ Meeting and certain other conditions, Gilead has the right under the terms of the share subscription agreement to have two designees appointed to our Board of Directors. The Special Shareholders’ Meeting of 22 October 2019 approved the appointment of Daniel O’Day and Dr. Linda Higgins as Directors of Galapagos NV, both of whom are still Directors of Galapagos NV today.
On 22 October 2019, our Extraordinary Shareholders’ Meeting approved the issuance of a warrant to Gilead, known as Warrant A, that confers the right to subscribe for a number of new shares sufficient to bring the number of shares owned by Gilead and its affiliates to 25.1% of the issued and outstanding shares of the Company. Warrant A expires one year after the issue date and the exercise price per share is €140.59. On 6 November 2019, Gilead exercised Warrant A and increased its ownership in Galapagos to 25.10% of the then outstanding shares.
On 22 October 2019, Gilead was also issued another warrant, known as the initial Warrant B, that confers the right to subscribe for a number of new shares sufficient to bring the number of shares owned by Gilead and its affiliates to 29.9% of the issued and outstanding shares of the Company. The initial Warrant B will expire on 23 August 2024. The exercise price per share will be the greater of (i) 120% multiplied by the arithmetic mean of the 30-day daily volume weighted average trading price of the Galapagos shares preceding the date of the exercise notice with respect to such exercise, and (ii) €140.59. Between 57 and 59 months from 23 August 2019, subject to and upon approval by the Company’s Shareholders’ Meeting, Gilead will be issued a warrant with substantially similar terms, including exercise price, to the initial Warrant B. This subsequent Warrant B will expire on the earlier of (i) the date that is five years after the fifth anniversary of the closing and (ii) five years after the date that the warrant is issued. The issuance of this warrant is on the agenda of the Extraordinary Shareholders’ Meeting of 30 April 2024.
Gilead is subject to certain standstill restrictions until 10 years following the closing, which occurred on 23 August 2019. Among other things, during this time Gilead and its affiliates and any party acting in concert with them may not, without our consent, acquire voting securities of Galapagos exceeding more than 29.9% of the then issued and outstanding voting securities, and Gilead may not propose a business combination with or acquisition of Galapagos. The standstill restrictions are subject to certain exceptions as provided in the share subscription agreement.
Pursuant to the terms of the share subscription agreement, Gilead also agreed to certain lock-up provisions. They shall not, and shall cause their affiliates not to, without our prior consent, dispose of any equity securities of Galapagos prior to the second anniversary of the closing (23 August 2019). During the period beginning on the date that is two years following the closing until the date that is five years following the closing, Gilead and its affiliates shall not, without our prior consent, dispose of any equity securities of Galapagos if after such disposal they would own less than 20.1% of the then issued and outstanding voting securities of Galapagos. The lock-up restrictions are subject to certain exceptions as provided in the share subscription agreement and may terminate upon certain events.
In April 2021, Gilead and Galapagos agreed to amend the share subscription agreement to extend the full lock-up of all of Gilead’s securities of Galapagos for a period of five years until 22 August 2024. In 2022, Gilead and Galapagos agreed to amend the share subscription agreement for conformity with the change from a two-tier to a one-tier governance system by Galapagos.
Terms of the global research and development collaboration
We will fund and lead all discovery and development autonomously until the end of Phase 2. After the completion of a qualifying Phase 2 study (or, in certain circumstances, the first Phase 3 study), Gilead will have the option to acquire a license to the compound outside Europe. If the option is exercised, we and Gilead will co-develop the compound and share costs equally. Gilead will maintain option rights to our programs through the 10-year term of the collaboration. This term can be extended, at the discretion of Gilead, for up to an additional three years thereafter for those programs, if any, that have entered clinical development prior to the end of the collaboration term. On top, a final term extension can be granted in certain circumstances.
For all programs resulting from the collaboration (other than GLPG1972 and GLPG1690), Gilead will make a $150 million opt-in payment per program and will owe no subsequent milestones. We will receive tiered royalties ranging from 20 – 24% on net sales of all our products licensed by Gilead in countries outside Europe as part of the agreement. For GLPG1972, Gilead declined to exercise its option under the collaboration agreement in November 2020. In February 2021, the development of GLPG1690 (ziritaxestat) was discontinued.
Revised filgotinib collaboration
Under the terms of the new arrangement agreed in December 2020, we assumed all development, manufacturing, commercialization and certain other rights for filgotinib in Europe. Gilead retains commercial rights and remains the marketing authorization holder for filgotinib outside of Europe, including in Japan, where filgotinib is co-marketed with Eisai. The transfer was subject to applicable local legal, regulatory and consultation requirements. Most activities transferred to Galapagos by 31 December 2021 and we completed the transition during 2022.
The new arrangement was formalized in (1) the Transition and Amendment Agreement of 3 April 2021 pursuant to which Gilead transitioned the exploitation of filgotinib in Europe to Galapagos by the end of 2021, (2) the DIVERSITY Letter Agreement of 6 September 2021 pursuant to which we and Gilead agreed to transfer the sponsorship of and operational and financial responsibility for the ongoing DIVERSITY study and its long-term extension study (LTE) study from Gilead to Galapagos, and (3) the Second Amended and Restated License and Collaboration Agreement of 24 December 2021, amending and restating the existing collaboration agreement, which went into effect as of 1 January 2022.
In March 2022, Gilead and Galapagos agreed to transfer the sponsorship of and the operational responsibility for the MANTA study, a safety study in men with moderately to severely active UC and CD to assess semen parameters while taking filgotinib, and its long-term extension, from Gilead to Galapagos.
Since 1 January 2021, we bear the future development costs for certain studies, in lieu of the equal cost split contemplated by the previous agreement. These studies include the DARWIN3, FINCH4, FILOSOPHY, and Phase 4 studies and registries in RA, MANTA and MANTA-Ray, the PENGUIN1 and 2 and EQUATOR2 studies in PsA, the SEALION1 and 2 studies in AS, the HUMBOLDT study in uveitis in addition to other clinical and non-clinical expenses supporting these studies and support for any investigator sponsored trials in non-IBD conditions and non-clinical costs on all current trials. The existing 50/50 global development cost sharing arrangement continued for the following studies: SELECTION and its long-term extension study (LTE) in UC, DIVERSITY and its LTE, DIVERGENCE 1 and 2 and their LTEs and support for Phase 4 studies and registries in Crohn’s disease, pediatric studies and their LTEs in RA, UC and CD, and support for investigator sponsored trials in IBD. In September 2021, we and Gilead agreed to transfer the sponsorship of the DIVERSITY study and its LTE study from Gilead to Galapagos. The transfer was intended to be completed by 30 June 2022 and was completed by March 2023. From 1 April 2022, Galapagos is solely responsible for all development costs for the DIVERSITY study and its LTE study. In March 2022, we and Gilead agreed to transfer the sponsorship of the MANTA study and its LTE from Gilead to Galapagos, which transfer was largely completed by 31 December 2022.
All commercial economics on filgotinib in Europe transferred to us as of 1 January 2022, subject to payment of tiered royalties of 8 to 15 percent of net sales in Europe to Gilead, starting in 2024. In connection with the amendments to the existing arrangement for the commercialization and development of filgotinib, Gilead has agreed to irrevocably pay Galapagos €160 million, subject to certain adjustments for higher than budgeted development costs. Gilead paid €35 million in January 2021, an additional €75 million in April 2021 and €50 million in 2022. Furthermore, Gilead made a one-time payment of $15 million to Galapagos in 2022 in consideration for Galapagos assuming responsibility for the DIVERSITY study. In addition, we will no longer be eligible to receive any future milestone payments relating to filgotinib in Europe. However, we will remain eligible to receive tiered royalty percentages ranging from 20% to 30% on Gilead’s global net sales of filgotinib outside of Europe and future development and regulatory milestone-based payments of up to $275 million and sales-based milestone payments of up to $600 million.
On 28 March 2022 filgotinib was approved by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare for UC, for which we received a $20.0 million (€18.2 million) regulatory milestone payment from Gilead in May 2022.
In March 2022, Gilead and Galapagos agreed to further amend the collaboration by adding the following countries to the Galapagos territory: Andorra, San Marino, Monaco, and Vatican City.
In October 2023, Gilead and Galapagos agreed to further amend the collaboration. Gilead and Galapagos agreed to terminate the existing 50/50 global development cost sharing arrangement, with Galapagos bearing the costs going forward, and to terminate Galapagos’ obligation to pay tiered royalties to Gilead on net sales of Jyseleca® in Europe, in addition to other amendments.