GSK Taps Academia For Fresh Ideas

GlaxoSmithKline and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory will jointly develop a treatment for obesity and type 2 diabetes using an approach discovered at Cold Spring to regulate the enzymatic activity of the protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B. The partners hope to identify small molecules that inhibit PTP1B after stimulation by insulin and leptin, an approach expected to overcome the insulin and leptin resistance encountered in diabetes and obesity. Separately, GSK is open for submissions to the third annual Discovery Fast Track Challenge, in which the company solicits drug discovery proposals from academic scientists in Europe, Canada, and the U.S. Those whose entries are selected will work with GSK’s researchers to test their hypotheses against GSK’s extensive library of compounds.