Date: 2016-08-01
Type of information: Establishment of a new subsidiary in the EU
Compound: bioelectronic medicines
Company: GSK (UK) Verily Life Sciences (USA - CA) Galvani Bioelectronics (UK)
Therapeutic area: Endocrinological diseases - Hormonal diseases - Inflammatory diseases - Metabolic diseases
Type agreement: establishment of a new subsidiary in the EU
Action mechanism: Bioelectronic medicine is a relatively new scientific field that aims to tackle a wide range of chronic diseases using miniaturised, implantable devices that can modify electrical signals that pass along nerves in the body, including irregular or altered impulses that occur in many illnesses.
Disease:
Details: * On August 1, 2016, GSK announced an agreement with Verily Life Sciences (formerly Google Life Sciences), an Alphabet company, to form Galvani Bioelectronics to enable the research, development and commercialisation of bioelectronic medicines. GSK will hold a 55% equity interest in the new jointly owned company and Verily will hold 45%. Galvani Bioelectronics will be headquartered in the UK, with the parent companies contributing existing intellectual property rights and an investment of up to £540 million over seven years, subject to successful completion of various discovery and development milestones. GSK has been active in the field of bioelectronic medicines since 2012 and believes certain chronic conditions such as arthritis, diabetes and asthma could potentially be treated using these devices. The new company will bring together GSK’s drug discovery and development expertise and deep understanding of disease biology with Verily’s technical expertise in the miniaturisation of low power electronics, device development, data analytics and software development for clinical applications. Initial work will centre on establishing clinical proofs of principle in inflammatory, metabolic and endocrine disorders, including type 2 diabetes, where substantial evidence already exists in animal models; and developing associated miniaturised, precision devices. Galvani Bioelectronics will be headquartered within GSK’s global R&D centre at Stevenage in the UK, with a second research hub at Verily’s facilities in South San Francisco. It will initially employ around 30 expert scientists, engineers and clinicians, and will fund and integrate a broad range of collaborations with both parent companies, academia and other R&D companies. GSK and Verily believe this collaborative way of working will rapidly accelerate the development of bioelectronic medicines. Kris Famm, GSK’s Vice President of Bioelectronics R&D, has been appointed President of the new company. Famm has pioneered work in both large and small molecule drug discovery and worked for a decade developing and delivering R&D strategy with a recurring focus on emerging technologies. He has co-designed and led GSK’s exploration of bioelectronics. A seven-member board, chaired by Moncef Slaoui, GSK’s Chairman of Global Vaccines, will also be appointed and will include Andrew Conrad, CEO of Verily. The new company will be fully consolidated in GSK's financial statements. This agreement is subject to customary closing conditions (including requisite antitrust approvals) and is expected to close before the end of 2016.
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