GSK has an R&D facility in Tres Cantos, Spain, which has been dedicated to developing new treatments to combat diseases of the developing world (DDW) since it was established in 2001.

In 2010, GSK committed to open up the Tres Cantos campus to allow GSK researchers to work more collaboratively with scientists from universities, not-for-profit partnerships and other research institutes. This is known as the Tres Cantos Open Lab Foundation (TCOLF). TCOLF is an independent, not-for-profit organisation, overseen by a Governing Board. TCOLF seeks to address the translational and funding gap existing in Global Health between basic research and drug discovery by creating a project-based collaborative environment integrating academic and industry teams. This allows rapid testing of novel therapeutic hypotheses. It is an opportunity for scientists from around the world to partner with GSK teams and use GSK’s facilities and know-how to rapid-test their own projects at the very early stages of drug discovery. It is the world’s first open laboratory for diseases of the developing world, where world-class scientists can test ideas on an industrial scale. In this way we are seeking to address the funding issues that have long prevented significant attention being given to diseases particularly common in the least developed countries.

A governing board of leading scientists provide strategic direction for the foundation. All projects supported by the Open Lab Foundation must contribute to research that helps discover new medicines for diseases of the developing world. Projects are focused on early stage drug discovery and could involve research into new targets, tools, screening, lead identification, lead optimisation, and progression of advance clinical assets up to Phase 2a. To be considered for support, there should be added value for the project in operating within the collaborative principles of the Open Lab, and it must align with the strategic objectives of the Foundation and diseases in scope (malaria, Chagas disease, tuberculosis, leishmaniasis, and enteric infections):

• To accelerate transformational science by developing new more relevant assays, PK/PD models, exploring new modalities beyond small molecules, chemical validation of novel targets, etc.
• To develop new discovery platforms enabling drug discovery on new targets, phenotypic assays or in vivo models.
• To strengthen the Global Health pipeline by screening novel chemical diversity using novel phenotypic assays or validated targets, optimisation of novel chemical scaffolds and progression of novel and differentiated pre-clinical and clinical assets (including exploring opportunities for repurposing).

The Open Lab’s vision is to have around ten projects at Tres Cantos at any given time.