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GSK Creates Bioelectronics Fund

by Ann M. Thayer
August 19, 2013 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 91, Issue 33

GlaxoSmithKline has launched a $50 million venture capital fund to invest in bioelectronic medicines and technologies. Called Action Potential Venture Capital (APVC), the new fund will support companies that aim to treat diseases and other health conditions by modulating neural impulses in the body. The fund’s first investment is in Valencia, Calif.-based SetPoint Medical, which is creating miniaturized implantable devices that stimulate the body’s vagus nerve to treat inflammatory diseases. GSK’s latest move is part of a broader program targeting bioelectronics. “We want to help create the medicines of the future and be the catalyst for this work,” R&D Chairman Moncef Slaoui says. In 2012, GSK established an internal bioelectronics R&D group. In April 2013, it launched an initiative to support up to 40 researchers in 20 external labs conducting exploratory work on mapping neural circuits and finding disease associations (C&EN, April 15, page 6). APVC intends to invest in five to seven companies, including start-ups and existing firms, over the next five years. Imran Eba will move from GSK’s worldwide business development group to head the fund.

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