Galapagos NV’s service division Argenta has extended its contract drug discovery agreement with Genentech, a member of the Roche Group. The agreement covers several drug discovery programs that use Argenta's computer-aided drug design (CADD), medicinal chemistry, in vitro biology and screening to discover new chemical entities against undisclosed drug targets defined by Genentech. The contract extension has a potential peak value of $33.7 million.

The extended agreement also allows Genentech to continue placing projects directly with Galapagos' other service division, BioFocus, which will provide integrated medicinal chemistry, in vitro biology and ADME services. BioFocus has been working with Genentech since an amendment to the Argenta agreement signed in September 2010.

"We are proud that Genentech again has selected Argenta for this major drug discovery collaboration," said Dr Chris Newton, senior vice president of services at Galapagos. "The possibility for Genentech to continue placing projects directly with BioFocus also speaks to the complementary expertise and technological capabilities that Argenta and BioFocus possess."