Science & innovation

ur scientists are stimulated by the desire to find a new medicine that will help a patient somewhere live a longer, healthier life.  

 

It can take as long as 15 years* to research and develop a new medicine and cost between £500m-£800m. Along the way, many initial leads fail, and this contributes to the high cost of finding new medicines.

At GSK, we select the areas of our R&D both by those conditions where new treatments are needed – either because there are no medicines or because symptom control can be improved upon – and where the scienitific understanding of a disease process is ‘ripe’ for translation (that is where we can apply this learning to developing new medicines). This second criterion may seem odd, but not all areas of scientific knowledge are at the same point. In some areas, the biological causes of disease are still not well enough understood to point to possible options for new medicines. 

We have set ourselves a target to be smarter in our R&D expenditure, working on the same relative budget but investigating and developing more new medicines.

Ultimately R&D spend is an investment in the future. We seek a return on that investment, by developing new treatments that bring real improvements to patients, because that is what payers determine to be a treatment that brings value.

Bolstering internal DPU research are a range of collaborations, as we seek to pursue the best scientific opportunities whether within GSK or without.  More about our external alliances can be found on our Collaborations page.

Empowered units

Across R&D, our main operational units are small groups with direct responsibility and accountability. This allows our scientists to develop a deep understanding and knowledge about their projects. 

In our early discovery research, we have created a new entrepreneurial research environment, where those closest to the science make the decisions. These mini-biotechs, or Discovery Performance Units (DPUs), are small teams of multi-discipline scientists – between seven and 70 – all working together and concentrating on one disease mechanism or scientific area.

Each DPU is responsible for discovering and developing potential new medicines in its particular area and seeing those through to early-stage clinical trials.  They are also responsible for developing a three year business plan and managing a budget, being held accountable for the final decisions and deliverables. 

The initial business plans are all reviewed by our Discovery Investment Board, made up of senior GSK leaders from R&D and commercial management, as well as external specialists with relevant experience in areas such as venture capital and biotech.

Late-stage development of a potential new medicine is managed by a Medicines Development Team (MDT). Again, these are small units of between 6-10 people, responsible for designing and directing a potential new treatment through the larger and later stage clinical trials. We can have many potential new treatments in late-stage development. Details of all projects in trials in humans are updated once a year on our pipeline chart, and through our clinical study register.

Underpinning all of this work will be a range of teams including those that help to identify and understand compounds worthy of investigation and those that optimise a compound’s properties and formulation so that it can be produced and delivered efficiently in humans. 

Notícia em Science & innovation

http://www.gsk.com.pt/research/science-and-innovation/index.htm
Acesso em 02 de novembro de 2011.