Galapagos Islands to halt cell therapy business after finding buyer to no avail
Galapagos reversed course earlier this year, announcing it would no longer focus on cell therapies and would seek a buyer for the business. After months of sourcing the assets, Galapagos discovered that no one else in the biopharmaceutical industry wanted them either.
A strategic review and sale process that began in May resulted in a limited number of non-binding offers, the majority of which came from financial investors. The Belgium-based company said on Tuesday that none of the offers came with terms or financing that would reasonably support the future of the cell therapy assets, so the business will wind down. The decision was made after a comprehensive review, taking into account the investment required to sustain the cell therapy business as well as “changing market dynamics.”
“Based on this assessment and the broad input of advisors, Galapagos intends to wind down its cell therapy business,” the company said in the announcement. “The intent to close the cell therapy business is to support a stronger, more sustainable future for Galapagos.”
Not long ago, the Galapagos viewed cell therapies as the future. The company aims to improve upon currently available cell therapies, which are made through a multi-step process that involves harvesting a patient's immune cells and engineering them into targeted anti-cancer drugs in a remote lab – a process that can take a month or more. Galapagos' approach uses technology that enables these therapies to be manufactured at the point of care or centralized location, reducing the time required to manufacture and deliver therapies to patients to about a week.
Galapagos, founded in 1999 as a developer of small molecule drugs to treat inflammatory diseases, announced in January this year plans to divest all of its assets, allowing legacy Galapagos to focus on developing cancer cell therapies. The company revised those plans in May, announcing it would seek a buyer for all of its assets, including its cell therapy business and its clinical-stage programs. Galapagos will then use its funds to purchase clinical-stage drugs that may be licensed in the fields of immunology, oncology and virology. It will also continue the legacy Galapagos partnership with Gilead Sciences. Gilead retains stake in Galapagos Islands.
Cell therapies are becoming a hot area for deals. Earlier this month, Bristol-Myers Squibb struck a deal worth $1.5 billion to acquire preclinical Orbital Therapeutics. The announcement follows M&A moves by AstraZeneca, AbbVie and Gilead Sciences. Each of these deals brings in vivo cell therapy platforms and programs that avoid the complexity and infrastructure required for ex vivo cell therapies, including treatments being developed in Galapagos. The deals also offer its big pharma acquirers the opportunity to expand the scope of cell therapies into treatments for autoimmune diseases.
The Galapagos are not the only country to abandon cell therapy. Earlier this month, Takeda announced that reprioritizing its portfolio would lead to the termination of its cell therapy efforts. Soon after, Novo Nordisk said it would halt its cell therapy efforts as part of a broader corporate restructuring.
Galapagos' board of directors voted unanimously to approve the termination of the cell therapy business, with the exception of two directors appointed by Gilead, who recused themselves from the vote. Galapagos said it would consider “any viable proposal to acquire all or part of the cell therapy business” during the closing process. Exiting the cell therapy will result in the closure of sites in Leiden, the Netherlands, and Basel, Switzerland in Europe; Princeton, New Jersey, and Pittsburgh in the United States; and Shanghai, China. It is expected that 365 employees at these plants will lose their jobs. The remainder of Galapagos will retain its headquarters in Mechelen, Belgium.
As of the end of the first half of 2025, Galapagos reported a cash position of 3.1 billion euros (approximately $3.6 billion). The funds will be used for commercial transactions to build a new pipeline under a new management team. In May, Galapagos' board of directors announced that industry veteran Henry Gosebruch would succeed the retiring Paul Stoffels as CEO.
Galapagos said the overall reduction of the cell therapy business is expected to result in operating costs of 100 million to 125 million euros from the fourth quarter of 2025 to 2026, and one-time restructuring costs of 150 million to 200 million euros in 2026. Galapagos said an updated 2025 cash outlook will be provided in the company's third-quarter 2025 earnings report in early November.
Photo: Ekkaluck, Getty Images
