GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has planned new measures to further advance its commitment towards greater openness, transparency and collaboration. These measures will develop new and faster-acting treatments for tuberculosis (TB), a huge global health need where R&D has been at an impasse, and to support independent research into diseases of the developing world. GSK will also outline new commitments to share detailed clinical trial data to enable additional scientific inquiry and analyses to further scientific knowledge and help bring benefit to patients.

Speaking at a meeting hosted by the Wellcome Trust in London today, GSK CEO Sir Andrew Witty will outline new steps to build on the encouraging signs of progress resulting from GSK’s ‘open innovation’ approach to R&D, designed to help develop new solutions for the world’s most serious health challenges.

Commenting ahead of the meeting, Andrew Witty said: “As a truly global healthcare company, I believe we have a responsibility to do all we can at GSK to use our resources, knowledge and expertise to help tackle serious global health challenges. However, the complexity of the science and the scale of the challenge mean that we cannot solve these problems alone. We need to take a different approach – one focused on partnership, collaboration and openness. By being more open with our clinical trial data, we also hope to help further scientific understanding. I am pleased with the progress we have made so far to evolve our business model but we recognise there is more we can do and the new initiatives outlined today will enable us to build on this work.”

Sir Mark Walport, Director of the Wellcome Trust, said: “In its commitment towards more openness and collaboration, GSK is setting an example of how the pharmaceutical industry must adapt to help drive forward medical advances. Real breakthroughs do not come out of nowhere, but are borne of scientists sharing their knowledge and learning from each other. GSK’s moves are bold and innovative, a very positive sign of its commitment to tackle some of the greatest health challenges facing the world today.”

GSK’s TB ‘compound library’ to be made freely available GSK scientists have screened the company’s entire pharmaceutical compound library of more than two million compounds for any that may inhibit tuberculosis (TB) bacteria and will publish in a scientific journal the results of this process – about 200 promising hits that could act as new starting points for the discovery of new medicines for TB. This is the first time a pharmaceutical company will have made public its own proprietary compounds which have demonstrated signs of activity against TB.

In a further move to foster the sharing of scientific knowledge and learning across the scientific community, GSK will double its funding for its ‘Open Lab’ at Tres Cantos, Spain, awarding it an additional £5m.