GlaxoSmithKline Targets "Electroceuticals" for Potential New Therapies

Drug discovery typically was initially a chemistry endeavor. Biological drugs, made from biological processes, was the next breakthrough. GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) wants to see new treatments can be found in yet another way – by targeting electrical signals in the body. To encourage the effort, the company said on Wednesday it is offering a $1 million prize and funding up to 40 researchers working in external laboratories. GSK unveiled the initiative in the journal Nature. "At GlaxoSmithKline and in academia, we are confident that this field will deliver real medicines, and we are mobilising resources for this journey," GSK head of bioelectronics research Kristoffer Famm and colleagues wrote in the journal. This emerging "electroceuticals" field has also grabbed the attention of a number of academic research groups which are already mapping neural circuits in animals and humans, and working on potential interventions for testing in clinical trials.

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