Cold Spring Harbor Lab partners with GlaxoSmithKline on obesity drug

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory has brokered a partnership with the British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline to develop a treatment for obesity and diabetes, officials said Monday.

The multiyear effort will focus on creating drugs to overcome resistance to two hormones, insulin and leptin, linked to Type 2 diabetes and obesity. It will be led at Cold Spring Harbor by Nicholas Tonks, a scientist who in 1988 discovered a key enzyme that regulates insulin.

The collaboration with GSK is part of a larger effort to commercialize research at Cold Spring Harbor to boost funding and encourage the growth of high-tech startups on Long Island.

"We are striving to achieve mutually beneficial and effective collaborations to accelerate research and develop new therapies to benefit patients," said Teri Willey, vice president for business development and technology transfer at the laboratory.