1st Aug 2016 06:13
LONDON (Alliance News) - GlaxoSmithKline PLC on Monday said it has formed a joint venture, to be called Galvani Bioelectronics, with a unit of Google-owner Alphabet Inc.
The FTSE 100 drugmaker said Galvani, which will be 55%-owned by Glaxo and 45%-owned by Alphabet's Verily Life Sciences LLC unit, will be based in the UK and will focus on the research, development and commercialisation of bioelectronic medicines.
Bioelectronic medicine is a relatively new scientific field seeking to tackle a range of chronic diseases using miniaturised, implantable devices which can modify electrical signals that pass along the nerves in the body.
The two companies together will invest up to GBP540.0 million in total in Galvani over the course of seven years, they said.
"Many of the processes of the human body are controlled by electrical signals firing between the nervous system and the body's organs, which may become distorted in many chronic diseases. Bioelectronic medicine's vision is to employ the latest advances in biology and technology to interpret this electrical conversation and to correct the irregular patterns found in disease states, using miniaturised devices attached to individual nerves," said Moncef Slaoui, chairman of global vaccines at Glaxo.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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