GlaxoSmithKline and Verily set up new venture Galvani Bioelectronics

GlaxoSmithKline has joined forces with Verily Life Sciences to launch a new business called Galvani Bioelectronics.

The new business will be based in Stevenage and will be dedicated to the research, development and commercialisation of bioelectronic medicines, a field that involves harnessing electrical signals in the body to treat chronic disease.

GlaxoSmithKline will hold a 55 percent equity interest in the new jointly owned company, while Alphabet subsidiary Verily – formerly known as Google Life Sciences – will hold the other 45 percent.

The parent companies have agreed to contribute existing intellectual property rights and an investment of up to 540 million pounds over seven years, subject to the successful completion of various discovery and development milestones.

It is hoped that Galvani's work will lead to the development of miniaturised, implantable devices that can modify electrical body signals, including the irregular or altered impulses that occur in many illnesses.

Moncef Slaoui, GlaxoSmithKline's chairman of global vaccines, said: "Together, we can rapidly accelerate the pace of progress in this exciting field to develop innovative medicines that truly speak the electrical language of the body."