GSK invests $50m in pioneering bioelectronic medicines

GlaxoSmithKline has launched a US $50 million venture capital fund to invest in companies that pioneer bioelectronic medicines and technologies.

The Action Potential Venture Capital (APVC) Limited's first investment will be in SetPoint Medical, a California-based company that is considered a "trailblazer" in creating implantable devices to treat inflammatory diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease.

"We want to help create the medicines of the future and be the catalyst for this work. GSK can play the integrating role that is needed to drive this new type of medical treatment all the way from the bench to the patient and this fund is a key part of our efforts."

Moncef Slaoui, chairman of R&D and architect of GSK's early stage investment strategy.

GSK's new fund complements the work of its Bioelectronics R&D unit, which was established in 2012 after a two-year effort to find and engage the most promising researchers in this emerging area of science.

The field of bioelectronic medicines is in its very early stages, but GSK's ambition is to have the first medicine that speaks the electrical language of our body ready for approval by the end of this decade.