Bioelectronic medicine is a relatively new scientific field that aims to tackle a wide range of chronic diseases using miniaturized, implantable devices that can modify electrical signals that pass along nerves in the body, including irregular or altered impulses that occur in many illnesses.
GSK said Monday it had entered into an agreement with Verily Life Sciences LLC (formerly Google Life Sciences), an Alphabet company, to form Galvani Bioelectronics to enable the research, development and commercialization of bioelectronic medicines.
GSK will hold a 55% equity interest in the new jointly owned company and Verily will hold 45%. Galvani Bioelectronics will be headquartered within GSK’s global R&D center at Stevenage in the UK, with a second research hub at Verily’s facilities in South San Francisco.
“This agreement with Verily to establish Galvani Bioelectronics signals a crucial step forward in GSK’s bioelectronics journey, bringing together health and tech to realize a shared vision of miniaturized, precision electrical therapies,” said Moncef Slaoui, GSK’s Chairman of Global Vaccines.
“Many of the processes of the human body are controlled by electrical signals firing between the nervous system and the body’s organs, which may become distorted in many chronic diseases. Bioelectronic medicine’s vision is to employ the latest advances in biology and technology to interpret this electrical conversation and to correct the irregular patterns found in disease states, using miniaturized devices attached to individual nerves. If successful, this approach offers the potential for a new therapeutic modality alongside traditional medicines and vaccines,” he added.
