Glaxo seen planning smaller drug research teams

LONDON (Reuters) - GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.L) will split its drug discovery researchers into much smaller teams that will compete for $1 billion (502 million pounds) a year in funding from a new panel, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.

The aim is to foster greater innovation, the paper quoted Andrew Witty, the new chief executive, as saying. Glaxo will also offer financial incentives to scientists linked to the success of their drugs.

"This will be analogous to a university spin-out going to a venture capitalist, and having to answer the questions of whether their strategy stacks up with the market place and is the team the right one to deliver," Witty said.

Glaxo will split its "centres of excellence for disease discovery", each of which employs about 600 scientists and concentrates on a disease therapy area, into "discovery performance units" of five to 80 scientists, Witty added.

Witty, who took over in May, is expected to outline a comprehensive strategy update for the British-based group when he presents second-quarter results at 12 p.m. on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by Quentin Webb)