That next blockbuster drug? It all begins with a hypothesis: GlaxoSmithKline just announced the winners of its second Discovery Fast Track Challenge – a competition that teams up American and European academia with GSK researchers to speed up their search for new therapeutics.
GSK picked the 14 best hypotheses from a total 428 proposals to help usher from the brain to the bench, so that ultimately new medications could make it to the bedside. The payoff for academics? They will be able to work with GSK’s huge compound library to test their hypotheses. The payoff for GSK? Early stage IP for the picking, since the winning academics could be offered a formal collaboration agreement with GSK.
