Pharmaceutical company GSK has chosen its R&D centre in Tres Cantos (Madrid) to build what will be the first top-level biosafety laboratory (BSL-4) to be set up by a company in its industry in the world. It will also be one of the few facilities of its kind in Europe.

The work to expand the Global Health R&D centre in Tres Cantos will involve an initial investment of over 4.5 million euros. The new laboratory will be used as a tool for dealing with any epidemics or pandemics which may appear in the future and for which there are currently no treatments or prevention measures.

Against infectious diseases
Opened over 30 years ago, the British company's Madrid centre is the only private centre in Spain, and one of the few in the world dedicated exclusively to developing new drugs against infectious diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis.

As its acronym indicates, the BSL-4 laboratory has a biosafety level of 4. These special conditions allow researchers to work inside with pathogens classified at this level. These are biological agents that can cause serious disease and can be easily transmitted from one individual to another, and for which there are currently no effective treatments or vaccines.

Highly qualified personnel
The scientists who will be assigned to the new laboratory are highly qualified personnel with experience in biocontainment laboratories. They will also receive additional training in order to be able to carry out their work with the utmost safety and to ensure the quality of their research.

The Head of the Global Health R&D centre in Tres Cantos, David Barros, emphasised the “need to invest our efforts and resources to develop solutions to neglected infectious diseases that nevertheless cause high mortality and affect a huge number of people, especially in developing countries”.

GSK's facilities in the Madrid municipality are currently working on developing seven potential solutions to combat malaria, tuberculosis and leishmaniasis.

^{Photo: GSK}