GSK announces ‘unique drug discovery collaboration’

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has signed an agreement with the Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) to form a partnership focused on the discovery of new medicines.

The five-year $25 million (12.6 million pounds) plus deal will see the parties build a unique alliance based on stem cell science.

Under the terms of the agreement, GSK will support novel research at four Harvard-affiliated hospitals in a number of fields, including neuroscience, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, obesity and musculoskeletal diseases, as well as at Harvard University itself.

As part of the institute’s seed grant programme, GSK will also fund an annual grant to support early-stage research in stem cell biology.

Patrick Vallance, head of drug discovery at GSK, said: “GSK believes stem cell science has great potential to aid the discovery of new medicines by improving the screening, identification and development of new compounds.”

He added the firm had chosen to partner with HSCI on this venture as it is the centre of the Boston biomedical community which has the highest concentration of leading stem cell scientists.

In December 2007, GSK signed a deal with OncoMed Pharmaceuticals for the discovery, development and marketing of antibody therapeutics targeting cancer stem cells.