GSK investing $95 million to create independent research institute

UK pharma major GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK) says that it is making a substantial investment to launch the Altius Institute for Biomedical Sciences, an independent, non-profit research institute, in Seattle, Washington, USA.

GSK and Altius have signed a 10-year collaboration agreement that provides long-term support for innovative, high-impact research. During the first five years, GSK will provide over $95 million in cash and other resources to advance the Institute’s basic research and technology efforts, which are also expected to attract funding from public and other sources.

Altius will be pioneering new technologies and approaches for decoding how genes are controlled and how a cell’s “operating system” functions in health and disease. GSK expects to capitalize on rapid progress in understanding gene control to select and validate better drug targets, and to accelerate many key aspects of developing new medicines.