Galapagos NV

Galapagos said that it has received "a limited number" of non-binding offers to acquire its cell therapy business, with the majority coming from consortia of financial investors. The company has set a deadline for the interested parties to put forward binding offers in the coming weeks.   Having abandoned plans earlier this year to split into two companies, Galapagos then decided to explore options for its cell therapy business, including a possible sale. Galapagos said late Wednesday that as part of the process it reached out to a broad group of strategic and financial parties to assess their interest in acquiring its cell therapy assets. This included access to a comprehensive data room and confidential presentations on the business. According to Galapagos, if it receives any firm offers, it will then decide whether to continue with the divestment process or pursue other options. An announcement on the matter will be made no later than November 5, alongside the release of its third-quarter financial results. The "limited" interest in Galapagos' cell therapy unit may reflect a wider cooling of interest in the field, with a number of companies retreating from the space. Takeda announced on the same day that it will discontinue all work in cell therapy as part of a strategic portfolio prioritisation, while a number of other drugmakers, including GSK back in 2023, have also stopped work in the field.

Dive Brief:Galapagos on Wednesday announced that a limited number of potential buyers for its cell therapy business have come forward, and the company plans to announce the fate of the unit in coming weeks.The interested parties are consortia, mainly made up of financial investors, Galapagos said. The companys board and executives are working with the potential bidders on due diligence and securing financial commitments. Where appropriate, the company is supporting the fundraising efforts of the potential bidders, Galapagos said.Fully-financed, binding offers are due within weeks, Galapagos said. Once any offers have been received, company executives will decide whether to divest the cell therapy business or pursue alternative courses of action. That announcement will come no later than Nov. 5, when Galapagos plans to release third-quarter financial results.Dive Insight:The Belgian biotechnology company has been on a roller coaster for the last decade. In 2015, Galapagos inked a key research partnership with Gilead Sciences, which the larger company opted to deepen with a $5.1 billion deal four years later. The agreement included payments for rights to drugs in Galapagos pipeline as well a higher equity stake in the company.But research and development setbacks left Galapagos foundering. The companys American depositary receipts, which briefly topped $274 in February 2020, plummeted to less than $23 in February 2025. Restructuring efforts, including new leadership, have helped the stock advance in recent months. The ADRs traded around $35 early Thursday.As part of the restructuring, Galapagos announced in January that it would split into two publicly traded companies spinning out a company focused on business development and retaining the Galapagos name for the cell therapy unit. Galapagos even named Henry Gosebruch as the CEO of the planned spinout, hoping to draw on his dealmaking experience at J.P. Morgan and AbbVie.Then in May, Galapagos told investors it was considering changing that plan. And in July, the company said it was weighing a sale of the cell therapy business.Galapagos didnt give any details about the potential suitors in its latest release, but the industry has seen a slight uptick recently in private equity interest. Bluebird bio earlier this year agreed to be acquired by Carlyle Group and SK Capital and go private. Similarly, Bavarian Nordic signed on to a $3 billion take-private offer from Nordic Capital and Permira. Bain Capital, meanwhile, joined with Bristol Myers Squibb to form a new biotech startup. '

After making cell therapy the thrust of its attempted turnaround effort, Galapagos said in May it would seek strategic alternatives instead for that business and create a new pipeline. On Wednesday, the storied Belgian drug developer said it’s weeks away from announcing the outcome of that review. It plans to make an announcement no later than Nov. 5, or around its third-quarter update. The biotech said it has received a “limited number” of non-binding offers — mainly from financial investors — to buy the cell therapy business, and is reviewing them. The move comes as cell therapy has lost its luster, given the complexities, high cost, commercial uptake concerns, and souring investor interest. Takeda on Wednesday was the latest large pharma to back out of the field , ending all work in the space. Galapagos said it has given potential bidders a deadline in the “coming weeks” to submit binding, fully-financed offers. The board could decide to continue with the divestment process or “pursue alternative courses of action,” Galapagos said. The cell therapy business includes a lead candidate called GLPG5101. The biotech had guided toward a potential approval in 2028, but pushed that back to 2029 when it released a broad update in July. Galapagos has gone through a major revamp in recent quarters. It replaced its CEO and CFO, brought in business and strategy chiefs, swapped out board members, reworked its yearslong partnership with Gilead, and divested some small molecule candidates. Steering the turnaround is Henry Gosebruch, who jumped from a C-suite post at AbbVie to be CEO of brain health biotech Neumora, where he took the company public and then left shortly after its first Phase 3 study failed. At Galapagos, Gosebruch succeeded Paul Stoffels, the former CSO at Johnson & Johnson.