Carolina Darias visited GSK’s Global Health R&D center

PHARMACEUTICAL MAGAZINE | 12.12.2022 – 19:12

Health Minister Carolina Darias and Secretary of State for Health Silvia Calzón visited the headquarters on Monday. GSK at the Spain Technology Park Madrid In Three Songs. The Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs also visited the R&D center dedicated to the investigation. malariaOther so-called ‘neglected’ infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and Leishmaniasis. The only center in Europe dedicated to Global Health, it celebrated 30 years of intensive research activity in 2022.

During the visit, the Head of Health and the Minister of Health had the opportunity to learn about the company’s work and commitment in Spain, which has 1,700 employees distributed among the headquarters, Tres Cantos R&D center and production facility. Aranda de Duero (Burgos), which has been operating in our country for more than 40 years and exported 95% of the drugs it produced last year to more than 130 countries.

“We are a science-guided company and innovation It is responsible for predicting disease by bringing together science, technology and talent. With our medicines, we aim to positively affect the health of more than 2.5 billion people in the next 10 years. vaccinesCristina Henriquez de Luna, president and CEO of GSK Spain, explained to the minister that her main activity is focused on developing innovative solutions for the treatment of immune-mediated diseases such as respiratory diseases, cancer, HIV and lupus. or also for prevention than most others through its broad portfolio of vaccines.

The Minister and his team toured the premises of the Tres Cantos R&D center, which was officially opened in 1992. This is the only private center in Spain and one of the few in the world dedicated to the study of infectious diseases common in developing countries. In the last three decades, it has become a world reference in the search for new treatments for malaria, tuberculosis and other infectious diseases caused by kinetoplastid parasites such as Chagas disease or Leishmaniasis.

Henriquez de Luna said, “Our mission is particularly present in the work we conduct at our Global Health center in Tres Cantos. For more than 30 years we have proposed to predict disease and contribute to facing the growing challenges at Global Health, and for this we have had to invest all our efforts and resources in developing solutions to diseases as neglected as malaria, tuberculosis and others. by other parasites”

Accompanied by the head of GSK Spain and part of the team responsible for the Tres Cantos R&D centre, the Minister and Foreign Minister witnessed the work of some of the center’s researchers and had the opportunity to see how a laboratory works. (BSL3), high biological coverage for work with biological agents that can cause serious and potentially fatal infections.

During the visit, the head of GSK Spain reaffirmed the company’s announced commitment to invest more than €1,200 million globally over the next ten years to seek new treatments and vaccines to tackle the infectious diseases affecting Global Health. Henriquez de Luna stressed that “the scientific community in Spain, as well as around the world, is increasingly aware of the importance of research in this area and a concerted effort is needed”. patients Those most in need of new solutions can achieve an improvement in their quality and life expectancy. Only by innovating and sharing knowledge from all corners of the world can we achieve this goal.”

Carolina Darias, on the other hand, expressed that she appreciated the work that this center has done in favor of World Health in the last 30 years and especially in the fight against diseases that are common in underdeveloped countries.