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Corporate Responsibility Report 2008
Investing in R&D
Despite advances in healthcare there are still many diseases for which there is no cure or for which treatments could be improved.
Continued research and innovation is essential. Our investment in R&D into new medicines and vaccines is at the core of our business.
In 2008, we spent £3.7 billion on R&D. Over 80 per cent of this expenditure was in pharmaceutical R&D with the remainder in vaccine and consumer healthcare R&D.
We have nearly 150 prescription medicines and vaccines in clinical development, detailed in R&D of our Annual report. Our current late-stage pipeline includes products targeting diseases including many forms of cancer, infections, respiratory diseases, autoimmune disorders, metabolic and cardiovascular disease, psychiatric disorders and neurological diseases.
In 2008, nine new products were approved for the first time. We made six first submissions for new products and product line extensions. For example, reflecting our strong focus on oncology, in December 2008 we filed in the US for a licence for pazopanib for the treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma.
Read about how we ensure high ethical standards in our R&D activity.
Expanding research capabilities and improving productivity
One of our strategic priorities is to improve R&D productivity. During 2008 the R&D organisation was restructured to support this. The changes are described in the R&D section of our Annual report.
In early 2008 we conducted a review, involving external experts, to identify the therapy areas where recent advances in science mean that there is more probability of finding new treatments. Based on the outcomes of the review, we refocused our early-stage research activities on the following areas:
- Biopharmaceuticals
- Immuno-inflammatory diseases
- Infectious diseases
- Metabolic pathways
- Neurosciences
- Oncology
- Ophthalmology
- Respiratory diseases
R&D in China
Our Chinese R&D centre, opened in 2007, now has over 200 employees and in 2008 moved to state-of-the-art facilities in Shanghai. The centre is investigating neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis.
The centre is already progressing an early pipeline from target validation to candidate selection. We intend to develop the centre into our lead facility for global discovery and development activities in neurodegenerative disorders.
The costs of conducting research in China can be lower than in other markets. However, lower costs are not the primary reason for opening the facility. China offers a huge pool of scientific talent – our 2008 recruitment roadshow reached over 1,200 PhD graduates at ten top universities.
Our R&D in China is conducted to GSK’s global quality and ethical standards. All our R&D policies and monitoring procedures are global and apply to our operations in China.
Investing in new areas of science
We are investing in technologies which are providing new opportunities for medical intervention, including:
Stem cell technology
We believe that stem cell science has great potential to aid the discovery of new medicines by improving screening, identification and development of new compounds. Using stem cells could also help us to develop medicines that are safer and more effective.
External collaborations
GSK does not have a monopoly on the best science and we are expanding our collaborations with external partners and business development activities to access innovations from outside our own organisation. We now have 35 external collaborations underway to complement our 35 internal Discovery Performance Units.
Our immuno-inflammation Centre of Excellence for Drug Discovery announced a five-year research partnership with the Immune Disease Institute (IDI) in Boston, US. The partnership will combine IDI’s world-class immunological expertise with GSK’s pharmaceutical capabilities.
In 2008 we also signed our first agreement with the University of Cambridge to develop a compound with the potential for treating obesity and addictive disorders. The University will contribute know-how and expertise and will bear some of the financial risk for which they will be compensated if the programme is successful. GSK will provide operational support, access to our in-house clinical research and imaging facilities, and background preclinical data on the drug.
Cambridge University will dedicate a team of academic experts in both neuroscience and metabolic disorders. Importantly, the agreement allows the academic scientists the freedom to publish the results from their work on ‘incubator’ projects.
In 2008 we acquired the pharmaceutical company Sirtris, which is the leader in research into sirtuins, a recently discovered class of enzymes believed to be involved in the ageing process. The combination of the specialist knowledge within Sirtris and GSK’s development capabilities will provide the best possible chance of validating this new approach to diseases of metabolism and ageing.
Read more about our investment in new technology in our Annual report.
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