Researchers from GlaxoSmithKline and the University of California, San Francisco, will work together to accelerate promising basic science in cancer, obesity and infectious diseases toward new drugs. 

Specific financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but GlaxoSmithKline will give early-stage funding for academic discoveries that struggle to receive money via traditional grants. GSK also will provide critical mentoring to UCSF scientists to advance research from an idea to a candidate medicine.