GSK launches US$50m venture capital fund to invest in pioneering bioelectronic medicines

Published: 8-Aug-2013

Makes first investment in SetPoint Medical, a US developer of an implantable device to treat inflammatory diseases


GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is to invest in companies that pioneer bioelectronic medicines and technologies by launching Action Potential Venture Capital (APVC), a new US$50m venture capital fund.

Bioelectronic medicines will use electronic implants to treat a range of diseases including arthritis, asthma and Type 2 diabetes. This field of medicine is in its very early stages and GSK says it ambition, through collaboration with scientists across the globe, is to have the first bioelectronic medicine ready for approval by the end of the decade.

‘We want to help create the medicines of the future and be the catalyst for this work,’ said Moncef Slaoui, Chairman of R&D and architect of GSK’s early stage investment strategy.

‘GSK can play the integrating role that is needed to drive this new type of medical treatment all the way from the bench to the patient and this fund is a key part of our efforts.’

The fund complements the work of GSK’s Bioelectronics R&D unit, which was established in 2012 after a two-year effort to seek out and engage the most promising researchers in this emerging area of science. The name of the fund comes from electrical signals called action potentials that pass along the nerves in the body. Irregular or altered patterns of these impulses may occur in association with a broad range of diseases.

GSK believes that miniaturised devices, or bioelectronic medicines, can be designed to read these patterns. The devices could be designed to interface between the peripheral nervous system and specific organs to read, change or generate electronic impulses that help treat a range of disorders.

APVC’s first investment will be in SetPoint Medical, a Californian company that is creating implantable devices to treat inflammatory diseases.

The new fund aims to build a portfolio of five to seven companies over the next five years.

GSK is also offering up to 20 exploratory research grants to academic groups working in relevant fields.

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