Earnings call transcript: Galapagos NV sees 91% revenue drop in Q1 2026

Galapagos NV, soon to be known as Lakefront Biotherapeutics, reported a dramatic 91.3% decline in revenue for Q1 2026 compared to the same period last year. The company’s revenue fell to 6.5 million euros, primarily due to the absence of income from a previous agreement with Gilead. Despite this, Galapagos posted a net profit of 14.5 million euros, driven by favorable currency exchange gains and financial income. The company announced a corporate transformation, including a name change and strategic initiatives.

Galapagos NV experienced a significant reduction in revenue, primarily due to the absence of deferred income from the Gilead agreement, which had bolstered previous year’s results. Despite this, the company managed to achieve profitability through positive financial income and currency gains. The strategic focus is shifting towards innovative therapies, including the promising gamgertamig for autoimmune diseases.

Galapagos projects significant expenditures related to its new strategic direction, including an upfront payment to Gilead and costs associated with the Ouro Medicines acquisition. The company expects to end 2026 with a cash position between 1.975 billion and 2.05 billion euros, indicating robust funding for future developments.

CEO Henry Gosebruch emphasized the company’s transformation, stating, "We are assembling a world-class management team to drive new medicines and create shareholder value." Chief Clinical Advisor Eric Hedrick highlighted gamgertamig’s potential, saying, "Its clinical profile offers a clear speed-to-market advantage in autoimmune therapies."

During the earnings call, analysts inquired about the company’s strategic focus and potential market expansion. Management reiterated their confidence in gamgertamig’s market potential and the strategic flexibility gained from the Gilead agreement modifications.

Operator: Good day. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to Galapagos Q1 2026 financial results conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker’s presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star one one on your telephone. You will hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star one and one again. Please be advised that today’s conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Sherri Spear. Please go ahead.

Sherri Spear, Investor Relations, Galapagos NV: Hello again from Belgium. Thank you for joining us today as we report Galapagos first quarter 2026 financial results and business update. Last evening, we issued a press release outlining these results. This release, along with today’s presentation, can be found on the Galapagos investor website at www.glpg.com. Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that we will be making forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include remarks concerning future developments of our company and our pipeline and possible changes in the industry and competitive environment. These forward-looking statements reflect our current views about our plans, intentions, expectations, strategies, and prospects, which are based on the information currently available to us and on assumptions we have made. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these statements and are accurate only as of the date of this recording, May 7, 2026.

Galapagos is not under any obligation to update statements regarding the future or to conform to these statements in relation to actual results unless required by law. You are cautioned not to place any undue reliance on these statements. Joining us on today’s call from the executive team are Henry Gosebruch, Chief Executive Officer, and Aaron Cox, Chief Financial Officer. Eric Hedrick, Chief Clinical Advisor, Sooin Kwon, Chief Business Officer, and Dan Grossman, Chief Strategy Officer, will be joining us for the Q&A session. With all of that, let me now turn the call over to Henry Gosebruch, CEO. Henry?

Henry Gosebruch, Chief Executive Officer, Galapagos NV: Thank you, Sherri, and thank you all for joining us today. It is truly an exciting time to be here. This call marks my one-year anniversary as CEO, and I couldn’t be more proud of what we’ve accomplished together in the first year of our journey. We have transformed our management team and board, repositioned our portfolio, added an exciting set of new pipeline programs, and we are changing our name to Lakefront Biotherapeutics. This is not a story of small adjustments. It’s a story of real transformation. A transformation like this requires the right people. At Galapagos, we’ve assembled a management team with world-class business development expertise and a shared mission of leveraging our unique position to develop new medicines for patients and to create significant value for our shareholders. Our executives bring world-class deal-making experience, and each has an enviable track record.

This is a team built for this new phase of our company. We are focused on disciplined decision-making, careful capital allocation, reshaping our pipeline through business development, and focused execution that can create long-term sustainable value. As Galapagos transforms, it’s also important that the board brings the right mix of capabilities and background. We are very pleased with the talented group that has joined us. The board’s expertise and background brings the skills and experience that are needed to provide effective oversight of our strategy and the company. Our previous board chair, Jérôme Contamine, retired from the board following the 2026 AGM/EGM. I am extraordinarily grateful for Jérôme’s service. He has been a great partner and provided valuable insights that have positioned us for this next phase of growth. I’m excited to work with Gino Santini as our new board chair going forward.

Gino is a seasoned pharmaceutical professional with a 27-year career at Eli Lilly, where he served as Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Business Development and led major acquisitions and partnerships. He has advised and directed numerous pharmaceutical, biotech, and venture-backed organizations and has relevant experience in M&A, commercial partnerships, and board governance. Gino’s extensive operational, strategic, and business development expertise, shaped by decades of global leadership in our sector, will be invaluable as we execute on our strategy to deliver meaningful patient impact and sustainable shareholder returns. Just a few weeks ago, we announced that we have entered into a binding agreement with Gilead regarding the portfolio created by Ouro Medicines. This did not happen overnight.

It was the result of a structured process, early relationship building, confidential reviews, negotiations, and ultimately successful agreement on a partnership with Gilead that has the potential to drive significant value for our shareholders. The transaction centers on Ouro’s lead program, gamgertamig, a BCMA/CD3 T-cell engager for autoimmune diseases with multi-billion-dollar revenue potential. Currently in Phase 1b dose-ranging studies and expected to enter registrational studies as early as 2027. Gamgertamig, Ouro’s lead molecule, is, in our view, a potential first and best-in-class T-cell engager that has demonstrated a compelling profile in clinical studies. The collaboration brings a meaningfully clinically differentiated high-potential asset into our portfolio. The proof of concept initial indications are orphan indications, where the clinical trials are manageable in size and scope, with significant potential for expansion into additional indications.

We’ve seen compelling data from over 60 patients treated with gamgertamig across five distinct autoimmune indications. This clinical experience has highlighted the differentiated profile of gamgertamig, characterized by rapid induction of durable complete responses, minimal cytokine release syndrome with the current schedule of administration, and remarkable consistency in these findings across studies and disease indications. We look forward to sharing data with investors over the coming months in a series of publication and presentations at medical meetings. We believe that gamgertamig has a clear speed to market advantage. The initial focus on the treatment of rare autoimmune diseases has provided rapid proof of concept, enabling initiation of registrational trials as early as 2027. The program has also received Fast Track and Orphan Drug Designation in the U.S. for ITP and AHA, further supporting an accelerated development path.

Finally, the spectrum of diseases that may be addressable by gamgertamig encompasses over 20 separate indications, giving us a pipeline and a product opportunity. In conclusion, we believe gamgertamig could represent a very important new type of treatment approach for immune reset therapy for patients across a large number of conditions. It has shown compelling clinical data so far, and it may have both a first-in-class advantage and best-in-class potential. Our partnership also includes three exciting preclinical programs, which we will look to progress with urgency. We look forward to sharing more about these programs in the future. Now, I’ll turn the call over to Aaron to talk about financials. Aaron?

Aaron Cox, Chief Financial Officer, Galapagos NV: Thanks, Henry, and hello, everyone. As you heard from Henry, we are really excited about the Ouro transaction. Another major benefit is that it includes a partial waiver and modification of terms of our legacy Option, License and Collaboration Agreement, or OLCA, with Gilead, marking a meaningful step forward in our strategic and financial flexibility. This slide details the benefits of this transaction relative to our legacy relationship. In short, the participation of G