Difference between revisions of "Galvani Bioelectronics"

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|wikipedia=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galvani_Bioelectronics
 
|wikipedia=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galvani_Bioelectronics
 
|sourcewatch=
 
|sourcewatch=
|constitutes=
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|constitutes=pharmaceutical company
 
|logo=
 
|logo=
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|interests=bioelectronics,Digital healthcare,Brain-machine interface
 
|start=November 2016
 
|start=November 2016
|description=Google/GSK joint venture working on hacking the nervous system
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|description=Well-funded Google/GlaxoSmithKline joint venture working on hacking the nervous system
 
|headquarters=
 
|headquarters=
 
|website=https://galvani.bio/
 
|website=https://galvani.bio/
|founders=
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|founders=GlaxoSmithKline,Alphabet Inc.
 
|num_staff=
 
|num_staff=
 
|members=Amy Altshul,Brad Hirsch,Christopher Corsico,Jordi Parramon,Ken Gabriel,,Stephen Gillett,Subesh Williams,Moncef Slaoui,Kris Famm
 
|members=Amy Altshul,Brad Hirsch,Christopher Corsico,Jordi Parramon,Ken Gabriel,,Stephen Gillett,Subesh Williams,Moncef Slaoui,Kris Famm
 
}}
 
}}
'''Galvani Bioelectronics''' is a joint venture between [[GlaxoSmithKline]] and [[Alphabet Inc.]] (Google), which researches implantable devices capable of altering electrical impulses in the body.<ref>https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/aug/28/electroceuticals-bioelectronics-implants-glaxosmithkline-galvani-kris-famm</ref>  
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'''Galvani Bioelectronics''' is a joint venture between [[GlaxoSmithKline]] and Verily Life Sciences, a subsidiary of [[Google]] parent [[Alphabet Inc]]. The company researches implantable devices capable of altering electrical impulses in the body.<ref>https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/aug/28/electroceuticals-bioelectronics-implants-glaxosmithkline-galvani-kris-famm</ref>  
  
 
==Own words==
 
==Own words==
Galvani is developing [[therapies]] to treat [[disease]] through implant-based direct modulation of specific neural signals to organs central in [[chronic disease]]. These therapies are designed to be safe, precise in their therapeutic effect, and minimally invasive in their delivery through use of small and efficient wireless electronics and keyhole surgery.<ref>https://galvani.bio/about/</ref>
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Galvani is developing [[therapies]] to treat [[disease]] through implant-based direct modulation of specific neural signals to organs central in [[chronic disease]]. These therapies are designed to be safe, precise in their therapeutic effect, and minimally invasive in their delivery through use of small and efficient wireless electronics and keyhole surgery.<ref>https://galvani.bio/about/</ref><ref>https://spectrum.ieee.org/rhumatoid-arthritis</ref>
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[[Moncef Slaoui]], head of research for GlaxcoSmithKline believed that "…this is a moment comparable to the birth of the [[Big Pharma|modern pharmaceuticals industry]] at the end of the19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, when [[Big Chemical|chemical companies]] began to realize that they could design drugs with compound effects."<ref>http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/487fb69e-db1f-11e1-8074-00144feab49a.html#axzz22QKsrCoM (paywall), quoted in https://utopiaordystopia.com/tag/bioelectronics/</ref>
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==Moncef Slaoui==
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In March [[2021]], [[Moncef Slaoui]], who in the meantime also had been chief scientist of the U.S. government’s [[Covid vaccine]] development effort [[Operation Warp Speed]], was fired as Galvani Bioelectronics board chairman over "substantiated" allegations of [[sexual harassment]]<ref>https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/24/moncef-slaoui-fired-from-galvani-bioelectronics-board-of-directors-over-sexual-harassment-allegations.html</ref>. The harassment occurred several years ago. Slaoui also stepped down as chief scientific officer of [[Centessa Pharamaceuticals]] and resigned as chairman of the board of the vaccine company [[Vaxcyte]] because of the harassment allegations.<ref>https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/24/moncef-slaoui-fired-from-galvani-bioelectronics-board-of-directors-over-sexual-harassment-allegations.html</ref>
  
 
==Problems==
 
==Problems==
Despite the huge amount of money invested, this the technology is not anywhere near a working stage. The company may thus have similarities to [[Theranos]] or [[Moderna]].
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Despite the huge amount of money invested, this the technology is not anywhere near a working stage. The company may thus have similarities to [[Theranos]] or [[Moderna]]. It is also not clear if sexual harassment was the real reason Slaoui stepped down.
  
"The biggest challenge is interpreting the conversation between the body’s organs and its nervous system", the company's president [[Kris Famm]] said in [[2014]]. "No one has really tried to speak the electrical language of the body," he says. Another obstacle is building small implants, some of them as tiny as a cubic millimeter, robust enough to run powerful microprocessors. Should scientists succeed and bioelectronics become widely adopted, millions of people could one day be walking around with networked computers hooked up to their nervous systems. As [[Anand Raghunathan]], a professor of electrical and computer engineering at [[Purdue]], puts it, bioelectronics "gives me a remote control to someone’s body."<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20140528123028/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/25/magazine/can-the-nervous-system-be-hacked.html</ref>
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In [[2014]] company President [[Kris Famm]] explained some difficulties. "The biggest challenge is interpreting the conversation between the body’s organs and its nervous system", "No one has really tried to speak the electrical language of the body," he says. Another obstacle is building small implants, some of them as tiny as a cubic millimeter, robust enough to run powerful [[microprocessors]]. Should [[scientists]] succeed and [[bioelectronics]] become widely adopted, millions of people could one day be walking around with [[networked computers]] hooked up to their nervous systems. As [[Anand Raghunathan]], a professor of electrical and computer engineering at [[Purdue]], puts it, bioelectronics "gives me a remote control to someone’s body."<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20140528123028/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/25/magazine/can-the-nervous-system-be-hacked.html</ref>
  
  
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==References==
 
==References==
 
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Latest revision as of 00:57, 7 January 2023

Group.png Galvani Bioelectronics  
(Pharmaceutical companyWebsiteRdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
FormationNovember 2016
Founder• GlaxoSmithKline
• Alphabet Inc.
Interestsbioelectronics, Digital healthcare, Brain-machine interface
Membership• Amy Altshul
• Brad Hirsch
• Christopher Corsico
• Jordi Parramon
• Ken Gabriel
• Stephen Gillett
• Subesh Williams
• Moncef Slaoui
• Kris Famm
Well-funded Google/GlaxoSmithKline joint venture working on hacking the nervous system

Galvani Bioelectronics is a joint venture between GlaxoSmithKline and Verily Life Sciences, a subsidiary of Google parent Alphabet Inc. The company researches implantable devices capable of altering electrical impulses in the body.[1]

Own words

Galvani is developing therapies to treat disease through implant-based direct modulation of specific neural signals to organs central in chronic disease. These therapies are designed to be safe, precise in their therapeutic effect, and minimally invasive in their delivery through use of small and efficient wireless electronics and keyhole surgery.[2][3]

Moncef Slaoui, head of research for GlaxcoSmithKline believed that "…this is a moment comparable to the birth of the modern pharmaceuticals industry at the end of the19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, when chemical companies began to realize that they could design drugs with compound effects."[4]

Moncef Slaoui

In March 2021, Moncef Slaoui, who in the meantime also had been chief scientist of the U.S. government’s Covid vaccine development effort Operation Warp Speed, was fired as Galvani Bioelectronics board chairman over "substantiated" allegations of sexual harassment[5]. The harassment occurred several years ago. Slaoui also stepped down as chief scientific officer of Centessa Pharamaceuticals and resigned as chairman of the board of the vaccine company Vaxcyte because of the harassment allegations.[6]

Problems

Despite the huge amount of money invested, this the technology is not anywhere near a working stage. The company may thus have similarities to Theranos or Moderna. It is also not clear if sexual harassment was the real reason Slaoui stepped down.

In 2014 company President Kris Famm explained some difficulties. "The biggest challenge is interpreting the conversation between the body’s organs and its nervous system", "No one has really tried to speak the electrical language of the body," he says. Another obstacle is building small implants, some of them as tiny as a cubic millimeter, robust enough to run powerful microprocessors. Should scientists succeed and bioelectronics become widely adopted, millions of people could one day be walking around with networked computers hooked up to their nervous systems. As Anand Raghunathan, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue, puts it, bioelectronics "gives me a remote control to someone’s body."[7]


 

Known member

1 of the 9 of the members already have pages here:

MemberDescription
Moncef SlaouiResponsible for warp-speed development of experimental Covid-19 jabs up to January 2021. Fired over a "substantiated" sexual harassment claim in March 2021.
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References