GSK pledges $ 8 million

To help outsiders research neglected tropical diseases:

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has pledged US$ 8 million to support scientists researching new medicines to fight malaria and other neglected tropical diseases afflicting poor nations, in a fresh initiative targeted at improving public health in least developed countries (LDCs).

In an address to the New York headquartered Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), one of the most influential foreign policy think tanks in the world, GSK CEO Andrew Witty announced plans to set up independent Open Labs with equipment and resources for research into neglected tropical diseases, and to permit and support outsiders who wished to use these facilities for research.

Over the past 12 months GSK researchers had screened more than two million proprietary compounds and identified 13,500 compounds that could be activated against malaria, Witty disclosed, and said the company plans to publish this information on it website, so that scientists can use the knowledge to develop vaccines against malaria. Stressing that “We need to encourage the creation of a new medicines against malaria,” he pointed out that over the last 60 years, 16 neglected diseases had been identified and for some of them, animal healthcare medicines had been used.

Elaborating on the Open Lab initiative, Witty said that when a scientist finds an effective medicine, GSK would take the necessary steps to develop it and make it available wherever it was needed, and that to make all this happen GSK needed partnerships with concerned governments. GSK would have a very small return from this programme and these returns would also be utilized for further research, he said.

Answering questions from media at two global media teleconferences that preceded his address to the Council, Witty said GSK has about 125 scientists involved in research on neglected tropical diseases, and that besides malaria, extensive research is also being done on other diseases such as HIV/AIDS.