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.
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