Partners committed to open innovation to progress research into complex disorders
Stevenage UK, December 16 2014 – GSK, one of the founding stakeholders of Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst (SBC), the UK’s first open innovation bioscience campus, has added its support to the incubator's Open Innovation Challenge in Neurodegenerative Disease1. The initiative was developed to address growing healthcare needs around these complex conditions, an area of research in which GSK already invests. The company's support increases the number of academic projects which can be developed under the open innovation challenge.
The Open Innovation Challenge in Neurodegenerative Disease was launched by SBC, Manchester: Integrating Medicine and Innovative Technology (MIMIT) and six leading Academic Health Science Centre Technology Transfer Organisations2 in May 2014. Researchers at the universities involved have submitted project proposals which will undergo review by a panel of industry, public sector and research charity experts to decide which should be developed further. The results are to be announced at the start of 2015.
As an early adopter of open innovation, GSK recognises the value that this collaborative way of working brings to brings to areas where more traditional R&D efforts have stalled. Dementia continues to be one of the UK’s most challenging health problems affecting 670,0003 people in the UK alone, with recent data indicating that the annual cost of dementia to the country is more than £20 billion4. Neurodegenerative disease therefore represents a large and growing unmet medical need which initiatives such as this are hoping to tackle.
Martino Picardo, CEO of Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst, said, 'We are delighted to welcome GSK, a founding stakeholder and long-term partner, to this important initiative. Its research activity brings valuable insight for the academic researchers tackling neurodegenerative disease in this open innovation challenge.'
Min Li, SVP, Neurosciences GSK, commented, 'Taking an open-minded approach to sharing information and resources is critical to helping us unlock some of the key barriers to developing effective new medicines. We think that this initiative will help to provide an increased understanding of the biology to a point where we can identify a new target, deliver a new model, tool or biomarker. It is important that there are tangible deliverables that we can use in partnership to develop more predictive experimental medicine models to increase our chances of success in studies and that this will in turn help accelerate the development of desperately needed new medicines for patients.'
--ENDS--
1 Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst and MIMIT launch Open Innovation Challenge in Neurodegenerative
2 AHSC Technology Transfer Organisations involved: Cambridge Enterprise, Imperial Innovations, King’s Business, UCL Business, University of Manchester Intellectual Property, and Isis Innovations (Oxford University)
3 Lancet 2013;382:1405-12
4 Data from Alzheimer's Research UK
For more information, please contact:
Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst
Martino Picardo, CEO +44 (0)1438 906906
Emma Palmer Foster, Strategic Communications Consultant +44 (0)7880 787185
comms@stevenagecatalyst.com
Notes for Editors
About GSK
GSK – one of the world’s leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies – is committed to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer. For further information please visit gsk.com
About Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst
Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst is the UK’s first open innovation bioscience campus, pioneering a unique culture to drive early stage bioscience technology and company development, and building a thriving community. It is backed by £38m of funding from its founding partners – GlaxoSmithKline, the Wellcome Trust, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the Technology Strategy Board and the former East of England Development Agency. Consisting of an Incubator, an Accelerator and a Hub, covering 60,000 sq ft of laboratory, office and networking space, the independent facility houses a range of companies, from virtual and start-up firms to those which are more established, as well as other organisations. Co-located with GlaxoSmithKline on the Stevenage site, Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst is in the unique position of operating in proximity to the expertise and resources of a major pharmaceutical company, close to both London and Cambridge. For more information, please go to www.stevenagecatalyst.com.
About Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst's stakeholders
Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst's stakeholders are GlaxoSmithKline (www.gsk.com), the Wellcome Trust (www.wellcome.ac.uk), the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (www.bis.gov.uk), Innovate UK (formerly the Technology Strategy Board; www.innovateuk.org) and the former East of England Development Agency (www.eeda.org.uk)
Help employers find you! Check out all the jobs and post your resume.
Stevenage UK, December 16 2014 – GSK, one of the founding stakeholders of Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst (SBC), the UK’s first open innovation bioscience campus, has added its support to the incubator's Open Innovation Challenge in Neurodegenerative Disease1. The initiative was developed to address growing healthcare needs around these complex conditions, an area of research in which GSK already invests. The company's support increases the number of academic projects which can be developed under the open innovation challenge.
The Open Innovation Challenge in Neurodegenerative Disease was launched by SBC, Manchester: Integrating Medicine and Innovative Technology (MIMIT) and six leading Academic Health Science Centre Technology Transfer Organisations2 in May 2014. Researchers at the universities involved have submitted project proposals which will undergo review by a panel of industry, public sector and research charity experts to decide which should be developed further. The results are to be announced at the start of 2015.
As an early adopter of open innovation, GSK recognises the value that this collaborative way of working brings to brings to areas where more traditional R&D efforts have stalled. Dementia continues to be one of the UK’s most challenging health problems affecting 670,0003 people in the UK alone, with recent data indicating that the annual cost of dementia to the country is more than £20 billion4. Neurodegenerative disease therefore represents a large and growing unmet medical need which initiatives such as this are hoping to tackle.
Martino Picardo, CEO of Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst, said, 'We are delighted to welcome GSK, a founding stakeholder and long-term partner, to this important initiative. Its research activity brings valuable insight for the academic researchers tackling neurodegenerative disease in this open innovation challenge.'
Min Li, SVP, Neurosciences GSK, commented, 'Taking an open-minded approach to sharing information and resources is critical to helping us unlock some of the key barriers to developing effective new medicines. We think that this initiative will help to provide an increased understanding of the biology to a point where we can identify a new target, deliver a new model, tool or biomarker. It is important that there are tangible deliverables that we can use in partnership to develop more predictive experimental medicine models to increase our chances of success in studies and that this will in turn help accelerate the development of desperately needed new medicines for patients.'
--ENDS--
1 Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst and MIMIT launch Open Innovation Challenge in Neurodegenerative
2 AHSC Technology Transfer Organisations involved: Cambridge Enterprise, Imperial Innovations, King’s Business, UCL Business, University of Manchester Intellectual Property, and Isis Innovations (Oxford University)
3 Lancet 2013;382:1405-12
4 Data from Alzheimer's Research UK
For more information, please contact:
Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst
Martino Picardo, CEO +44 (0)1438 906906
Emma Palmer Foster, Strategic Communications Consultant +44 (0)7880 787185
comms@stevenagecatalyst.com
Notes for Editors
About GSK
GSK – one of the world’s leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies – is committed to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer. For further information please visit gsk.com
About Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst
Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst is the UK’s first open innovation bioscience campus, pioneering a unique culture to drive early stage bioscience technology and company development, and building a thriving community. It is backed by £38m of funding from its founding partners – GlaxoSmithKline, the Wellcome Trust, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the Technology Strategy Board and the former East of England Development Agency. Consisting of an Incubator, an Accelerator and a Hub, covering 60,000 sq ft of laboratory, office and networking space, the independent facility houses a range of companies, from virtual and start-up firms to those which are more established, as well as other organisations. Co-located with GlaxoSmithKline on the Stevenage site, Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst is in the unique position of operating in proximity to the expertise and resources of a major pharmaceutical company, close to both London and Cambridge. For more information, please go to www.stevenagecatalyst.com.
About Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst's stakeholders
Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst's stakeholders are GlaxoSmithKline (www.gsk.com), the Wellcome Trust (www.wellcome.ac.uk), the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (www.bis.gov.uk), Innovate UK (formerly the Technology Strategy Board; www.innovateuk.org) and the former East of England Development Agency (www.eeda.org.uk)
Help employers find you! Check out all the jobs and post your resume.
