(Bloomberg) — GlaxoSmithKline PLC (NYSE:GSK), Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) and other pharmaceutical companies agreed to invest in a $100 million fund with the U.K. government to explore new approaches to Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia, a field marred by drug failures.
Venture capital firm SV Life Sciences Advisers LLP will manage the Dementia Discovery Fund, whose investors also include Biogen Inc. (Nasdaq:BGN), Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE:LLY), Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. and Alzheimer's Research U.K., according to a statement.
Reps from the drugmakers will sit on a scientific advisory board to guide a team of neuroscientists who will aim to bring new drugs and diagnostic tools to market by 2025, Kate Bingham, managing partner of SV Life Sciences, said in a telephone interview. While drugmakers have reported some high-profile failures from Alzheimer's trials, the fund's creation comes at a time when scientists' understanding of the memory-erasing disease is making headway.
