The U.K. pharmaceutical company said on Monday it has signed an agreement with Verily Life Sciences LLC, formerly Google Life Sciences, to create Galvani Bioelectronics to research, develop and commercialize next-generation treatments involving the use electrical signals to cure diseases.
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The announcement comes less than a week after GSK pledged to invest £275 million in three plants in Britain, sweeping aside concerns about growth following the country’s decision to leave the European Union. Last week it announced plans to spend 275 million pounds on drug manufacturing.
Irregular or altered impulses occur in many illnesses, it said, and the vision is to attach devices to individual nerves to analyse and correct them.
GSK has been involved in bioelectronics for 4 years and says it thinks diabetes, arthritis, and asthma could all potentially be treated using the new method.
Verily’s Chief Technology Officer, Brian Otis added: “Bioelectronic medicine is a new area of therapeutic exploration, and we know that success will require the confluence of deep disease biology expertise and new highly miniaturised technologies”.
Galvani will develop miniaturised, implantable devices that can modify electrical nerve signals. “Our goal is to have our first medicines ready for regulatory approval in seven years”.
The tie-up shows the growing convergence of healthcare and technology. In July 2014, Swiss drugmaker Novartis entered into a partnership with the tech giant to develop “smart” contact lenses that can monitor a wearer’s blood sugar levels.
Large-scale electrical devices have been used for years as heart pacemakers and, more recently, deep brain stimulation has been applied to treat Parkinson’s disease and severe depression, while EnteroMedics last year won USA approval for a device to help obese people control their appetite.
Galvani will initially employ around 30 scientists, engineers and clinicians, and will fund and integrate a range of collaborations with both parent companies, academia and other R&D companies.
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Moncef Slaoui, Glaxo’s chairman of global vaccines, who was instrumental in establishing its investments in the field of bioelectronics, will chair the board of the new company. The new company will be fully consolidated in GSK’s financial statements.
