Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down: The new buzz in R&D, block­buster work on a bud­get and why what’s dead may nev­er die

End­points as­sess­es the big bio­phar­ma R&D sto­ries of the week, with a lit­tle added com­men­tary on what they mean for the in­dus­try.

Bio­elec­tron­ics gets a star turn

Let’s get it out front. I have a weak­ness for big think­ing about new R&D fields. So when I got wind of the tie-up be­tween Glax­o­SmithK­line and Ver­i­ly (Lord Google’s life sci­ence arm), I got up at 3 am and wrote the sto­ry. The idea that nan­otech based de­vices can be used to or­ches­trate a se­ries of elec­tric puls­es to treat a dis­ease can on­ly thrill a re­al R&D en­thu­si­ast. And at this stage, every­thing has great po­ten­tial. We’re a cou­ple of years out from proof of con­cept, so this is far from a com­mer­cial sto­ry. (Which, let’s face it, is what GSK re­al­ly needs now.) Sci­ence lovers will fol­low it as close­ly as they can. Count me in.

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