GSK funds institute in exchange for patent rights

Drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline is to invest $95 million in a Seattle-based research institute, in the hope that it will help it find new drugs.

The pharmaceutical company announced on 16 June that it has signed a 10-year collaboration agreement with the Altius Institute for Biomedical Sciences, a non-profit research center being opened by University of Washington genome scientist John Stamatoyannopoulos. Altius’s stated goal is to better understand gene control of cellular functions, which will include developing new technology. The institute plans to open later in 2015.

GSK said the institute will be wholly independent, with its own management and board of directors, and that Altius will raise additional funds beyond what GSK is providing. GSK will provide the initial $95m over the first five years, and will fund other projects as it sees fit.