Glaxo inks $25M stem cell deal with Harvard for heart disease, diabetes drugs

GlaxoSmithKline and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute have entered a five-year, $25 million-plus collaborative agreement to build an alliance in stem cell science to the development of new medicines.

The London-based GlaxoSmithSmith (GSK) said its investment support research at Harvard University and in at least four Harvard-affiliated hospitals in the areas of neuroscience, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, musculoskeletal diseases and obesity. In addition, GSK will fund an annual grant that supports early-stage research in stem cell biology, as part of Harvard Stem Cell Institute’s (HSCI) seed grant program.

The collaboration aims to integrate HSCI’s stem cell experience with GSK’s pharmaceutical capabilities to drive drug discovery research, including a staff exchange program where HSCI and GSK researchers will spend up to several months in each other’s laboratories, according to GSK. The collaboration will be overseen by a joint steering committee made up of scientists and managers from both organizations.

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