Two funds have been set up to invest in different stages of development.
The Centre for Drug Research and Development (CDRD), its commercial arm, CDRD Ventures (CVI), and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in Canada are collaborating to provide financial resources and drug development expertise to Canadian research institutions. GSK will provide project-based funding to support the commercialization of health research.
The first such vehicle is a “GSK-CDRD Innovation Fund” within CDRD to support certain early-stage projects to be conducted by CDRD and carried out in collaboration with academic investigators at CDRD’s affiliated institutions and/or hospital-based research centers. A joint Innovation Committee comprising both GSK and CDRD representatives as well as external reviewers will select projects to be supported from this fund.
The second fund is a joint venture with CVI that will invest in advancing projects further toward commercialization. Under this relationship, CVI will either conduct research itself or manage the projects. These studies will be partially funded by GSK.
“These funds represent a novel continuum of funding resulting in a greater pool of resources being available to support health research projects at our various stages of development, whether they are very early projects in CDRD or more mature projects that have been advanced into CVI,” remarks Natalie Dakers, president and CEO of CDRD and CVI.