GSK shakes up R&D

Like so many other big drug developers, GlaxoSmithKline has announced that it will be shaking up its R&D operations. The goal? To create new drugs faster and cheaper. Speaking to the Financial Times, Moncef Slaoui--GSK's R&D chief--also said that within a few years time, about half of the company's new drugs will come from outside partners rather than from internal development efforts.

Previously, GSK reorganized its R&D activities into Centres of Excellence for Drug Discovery, which were designed to be more entrepreneurial and nimble than Big Pharma. Many other developers have since copied the move. So what's next for GSK? "Mr. Slaoui...stressed that the company would increasingly focus on four therapeutic areas: oncology, vaccines, biological medicines and neuroscience."

- see this Financial Times article

ALSO: Take a look at GSK's pipeline. Report

PLUS: An independent study of 159,000 older people with diabetes found that patients treated with GlaxoSmithKline's Avandia and Takeda Pharmaceuticals' Actos had a higher risk of heart attack and death. Report

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