Glaxo creates new cancer drug group in R&D revamp

LONDON, Sept 12 - GlaxoSmithKline Plc is creating a new cancer-focused research and development group, marking a realignment of its R&D machine, the world's second largest drugmaker said on Friday.

New Chief Executive Andrew Witty, who took over in May, has already announced plans to open up drug research to external scrutiny and the latest move spells more changes for the company's scientists.

GSK Oncology brings together drug discovery units within the existing oncology Centre of Excellence for Drug Discovery (CEDD) and drug development teams, who focus on getting products through clinical trials and on to the market.

The CEDDs were set up after the merger of GlaxoWellcome and SmithKline Beecham in 2001 as semi-autonomous research centres focused on specific therapeutic areas.

They were initially hailed as a major success but, more recently, some industry analysts have questioned their productivity rates.

Paolo Paoletti, Glaxo's senior vice president for oncology, who is heading up the new cancer group, said the "end-to-end" R&D unit would allow Glaxo to capture more synergies between drug discovery and drug development.

But he denied it was an admission that the CEDD model had failed.

"It's not a breakdown; it's a natural evolution," he told Reuters. "We are creating a tighter connection between discovery and development."

Cancer is a priority area for growth at Glaxo and the company has 8,000 patients currently enrolled in clinical trials to evaluate a range of new cancer treatments. A further 8,000 are involved in trials to prevent prostate cancer.