Everybody Into the Pool!

GSK recently supported the launch of a new web site: Pool for Open Innovation against Neglected Tropical Diseases (POINT). 

In 2009, at Harvard Medical School, our CEO, Andrew Witty, spoke about how GSK would work to make medicines more available to those in the developing world.   He committed to creating the Pool for Open Innovation as a key part of our promise to open innovation in the search for new treatments for neglected tropical diseases.  The Pool is designed to open up access to the compounds, technologies, and expertise that could help organizations conduct research on treatments for neglected diseases more efficiently and effectively. 

The Pool is administered by BIO Ventures for Global Health and supported by founding contributors GSK and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals.  The Pool has continued to grow since its inception, with prestigious participants including the Emory Institute of Drug Discovery, iThemba Pharmaceuticals, and South Africa's Technology Innovation Agency, who have joined in order to access information in the pool to support their neglected tropical disease research.  Additional contributors to the pool include Massachussetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the University of California Berkeley, Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) and California Institute of Technology (Caltech).  

Read Andrew Witty's speech at the Council of Foreign Relations, a follow-up to the 2009 Harvard speech that provides further details in how GSK is seeking to make its contribution to global healthcare issues.