GlaxoSmithKline aims to boost its financial performance with electroceuticals

With GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) under pressure due to its development line having failed to produce anything of significance of late, the company is putting faith into the creation of electroceuticals.

In a nutshell, electroceuticals are tiny specialised electronic implants that have the capabilities of treating a variety of diseases including diabetes, asthma, arthritis, hypertension amongst others.

Through its subsidiary company Galvani Bioelectronics, a joint venture with Google’s parent company Alphabet, GSK is looking to become the first firm to effectively manufacture such a device.

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“Maybe over the next 12 months we’ll have one [a device],” said Kris Famm, the man running the 45 strong team behind the venture, in an interview with The Guardian.

“This is a decade-long endeavour. From the mid-2020s we should see a wave of therapies that will make this [bioelectronics] much more commonplace.”

The emphasis on electroceuticals comes at a time when GSK’s new Chief Executive Emma Walmsley has scrapped nearly one in seven of the company’s development programmes in order to streamline and focus on potentially blockbuster products.

It is understood that the company will remain committed to its development, providing £540mn of funding over the next seven years alongside Alphabet’s Verily division.