Vine and Venture Featuring GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK)  Senior Director for Discovery Partnerships with Academia

Vine and Venture is a series of networking events that are open to the life science community and Johns Hopkins researchers, faculty, staff, and students. These interactive discussions focus on how to partner with pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical technology companies. Attendees gain perspective on how large pharmaceutical and medical technology companies evaluate research, licensing, and collaboration opportunities from academic and research centers and early stage biotech companies.

Featured Company: GSK

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is a science-led global healthcare company. They research and develop a broad range of innovative products in three primary areas of Pharmaceuticals, Vaccines, and Consumer Healthcare. They also have a significant global presence with commercial operations in more than 150 countries, a network of 86 manufacturing sites in 36 countries and large R&D centres in the UK, USA, Spain, Belgium, and China. They are focused around the delivery of three strategic priorities which aim to increase growth, reduce risk and improve long-term financial performance. These priorities are: grow a diversified global business, deliver more products of value, and simplify the operating model. 

Some of GSK's Key Achievements include:

• The 1st pharmaceutical company to sign up to the AllTrials campaign for research transparency.
• Invested £3.4 billion in 2013 in our search to develop new medicines, vaccines and consumer products.
• Six major new products approved in 2013 (in areas including respiratory disease, HIV and cancer).
• 40 new molecular entities in phase II/III development.
• 86 manufacturing sites in 36 countries making our medicines, vaccines and consumer healthcare products.
• 4 billion albendazole tablets donated to eliminate two neglected tropical diseases since 1998.
• More than 12,500 people work in R&D in our search for new medicines, vaccines and consumer healthcare products.
• 860 million vaccine doses were distributed to 170 countries in 2013, 80% of which were to developing countries.

Colin H. Macphee, PhD, Senior Director, Discovery Partnerships with Academia, GSK

Colin earned his undergraduate and PhD degrees in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Glasgow.  He completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Washington, Department of Pharmacology, Seattle, before joining GSK.  Colin has been with GlaxoSmithKline for 25 years, originally joining as a cellular pharmacologist to investigate signal transduction pathways as potential drug targets.

Whilst originally based in the UK, Colin used broad-based scientific expertise in cell signalling to identify a new target, lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A₂ (Lp-PLA₂).  This work involved leading and coordinating a significantly sized multi-disciplinary matrix team from conception to a full and successful Program that identified various molecules which entered clinical development originally for atherosclerosis and, more recently, for diabetic macular edema and Alzheimer's disease.  During 2001, Colin transferred to the US to head the Dept of Vascular Biology and Thrombosis where he contributed to disease master plans and directed multiple discovery efforts covering atherosclerosis, thrombosis and hypertension with several molecules successfully selected for clinical development.  Over the past several years he has been a core member of the Medicines Development Team for Darapladib which oversaw its phase III trials where he held responsibilities for overseeing an external Lp-PLA₂ inhibitor follow-up Program, scientific collaborations and general scientific strategy.  Colin joined the Discovery Partnerships with Academia (DPAc) group earlier this year, a team dedicated to building a discovery pipeline of medicines with academic partners.

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