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Wed, May 13
Big pharma and the academy join forces
A large drug company and a public university have launched a new company with the goal of not just treating, but curing HIV.
British health care giant GlaxoSmithKline has pledged $20 million over five years and roughly 10 of its scientists to the new effort. Its partner, the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, will contribute about 40 researchers, as well as access to patients at its hospital for clinical trials and laboratory space on its medical campus.
Companies and universities routinely collaborate on scientific research. They’ll license each other’s technologies, and universities will even create startups to commercialize the ideas of its researchers. But the new company, named Qura Therapeutics, appears to be the first example of public and private science going into business together and splitting future profits equally.