MECHELEN, BELGIUM--(Marketwire - Sep 4, 2012) -

Mechelen, Belgium; 4 September 2012 - Galapagos NV (EURONEXT BRUSSELS: [ GLPG ]) announced today that it has received a transparency notification from Johnson & Johnson, pursuant to the Belgian transparency legislation (Belgian Act of 2 May 2007 on the disclosure of major shareholdings in issuers whose shares are admitted to trading on a regulated market).

Galapagos received a transparency notification on 30 August 2012 from Johnson & Johnson and Galapagos co-founders Tibotec-Virco Comm. VA ("Tibotec- Virco") and Crucell Holland B.V. ("Crucell"). Johnson & Johnson notified that, as a result of its acquisition of Crucell on 22 February 2011, Johnson & Johnson indirectly held 2,350,061 Galapagos shares through Tibotec-Virco and Crucell, which represents 8.8% of the 26,577,554 Galapagos shares outstanding today. The total number of Galapagos shares held by these entities under Johnson & Johnson's control, i.e. Tibotec-Virco (1,113,964 shares) and Crucell (1,236,097 shares), remains unchanged compared to previous notifications made by these companies.

About Galapagos

Galapagos (EURONEXT BRUSSELS: [ GLPG ]) (PINKSHEETS: [ GLPYY ]) is a mid-size clinical stage biotechnology company specialized in the discovery and development of small molecule and antibody therapies with novel modes-of-action. The Company is progressing GLPG0634, as well as one of the largest pipelines in biotech, with four programs in development and over 30 discovery programs. The Galapagos Group has over 800 employees and operates facilities in six countries, with global headquarters in Mechelen, Belgium. More info at: [ www.glpg.com ]

This release may contain forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements containing the words "believes," "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "seeks," "estimates," "may," "will," "could," "stands to," and "continues," as well as similar expressions. Such forward- looking statements may involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which might cause the actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements of Galapagos, or industry results, to be materially different from any historic or future results, financial conditions, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Given these uncertainties, the reader is advised not to place any undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of publication of this document. Galapagos expressly disclaims any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements in this document to reflect any change in its expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based, unless required by law or regulation.

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Source: Galapagos NV via Thomson Reuters ONE [HUG#1638547]