GSK banks on bioelectronics with new fund
pharmafile | August 9, 2013 | News story | Medical Communications, Research and Development, Sales and Marketing | Bioelectronics, COPD, GSK, asthma, diabetes
GSK has established a $50 million venture capital fund to invest in the emerging field of bioelectronics.
Described as one of the ‘medicines of the future’ by company R&D head Moncef Slaoui, bioelectronics is a burgeoning area of therapy that seeks to treat medical conditions by manipulating nerve activity.
Some diseases can lead to irregular or disordered neural behaviour and researchers want to develop electronic devices that can ‘read’ those patterns, and send out their own therapeutic impulses.
GSK’s gamble with the technology could well pay off if they are the first to use it to treat a wide range of conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease, asthma and COPD and type 2 diabetes.
Bioelectronics are not entirely new, having been used for years in pacemakers and even recent cases to treat Parkinson’s disease and some neurological disorders.
Although this particular research is still at an early stage, and the organisation expects to launch its first bioelectronic treatments by 2020.
The fund’s first investment will be in California-based SetPoint Medical, a company investigating the treatment of inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, by stimulating the vagus nerve to cause a natural anti-inflammatory reaction.
Imran Eba, the new fund’s first partner, said: “We expect a major wave of new medicines to emerge and benefit patients in future decades.”
The move is part of a larger investment drive by the organisation, which includes a $1 million prize for bioelectronic innovation announced in April. It also follows the establishment of a new bioelectronics R&D unit at GSK in 2012.
Anthony Arnold, SetPoint chief executive, said: “We could treat many inflammatory diseases in a way that is safer and more convenient for patients – and much cheaper than new drugs.”
The new fund, dubbed Action Potential Venture Capital, will be based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is expected to invest in five to seven companies over the next five years.
Hugh McCafferty
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