Registration no. 210183 Endowment 20.9 billion GBP | Focus Biomedical Research Number of employees 2,057 Video game Sneeze | |
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Founded 1936; 81 years ago (1936) Area served United Kingdom and overseas Key people Baroness Eliza Manningham-Buller(Chair)Dr Jeremy Farrar(Director) Similar European Bioinformatics Institute, PLOS, Bill & Melinda Gates Fo, Creative Commons, Howard Hughes Medical I Profiles | ||
The Wellcome Trust is a biomedical research charity based in London, United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Sir Henry Wellcome to fund research to improve human and animal health. The aim of the Trust is to "achieve extraordinary improvements in health by supporting the brightest minds", and in addition to funding biomedical research it supports the public understanding of science. It has an endowment of around £20.9 billion.
Contents
- History
- Major investments
- Major Overseas Programmes
- Seeding Drug Discovery Initiative
- Support for Open Access and Open Data
- Membership in the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund GHIT
- Public engagement and the Wellcome Collection
- Wellcome Book Prize
- Purchase of the Co operative Farms business
- Headquarters
- References
The Trust has been described by the Financial Times as the United Kingdom's largest provider of non-governmental funding for scientific research and one of the largest providers in the world. In the field of medical research, it is the world's second-largest private funder after the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
History
The Trust was established to administer the fortune of the American-born pharmaceutical magnate Sir Henry Wellcome. Its income was derived from what was originally called Burroughs Wellcome, later renamed in the UK as the Wellcome Foundation Ltd. In 1986, the trust sold 25% of Wellcome plc stock to the public. Overseen by incoming Director of Finance Ian Macgregor, this marked the beginning of a period of financial growth that saw the Trust's value increase by almost £14bn in 14 years, as their interests moved beyond the bounds of the pharmaceutical industry.
In 1995, the trust divested itself of any interest in pharmaceuticals by selling all remaining stock to Glaxo plc, the company's historic British rival, creating GlaxoWellcome plc. In 2000, the Wellcome name disappeared from the drug business altogether when GlaxoWellcome merged with SmithKline Beecham, to form GlaxoSmithKline plc.
Major investments
The Trust funds or co-funds a number of major biomedical research initiatives:
Major Overseas Programmes
Seeding Drug Discovery Initiative
Also known as SDDI, this five year initiative started in October 2005 with the remit "to facilitate the development of drug-like small molecules that address unmet medical needs." SDDI was based in London and managed by Richard Davis. Through early 2010, SDDI had provided more than £80 million across 30 projects split between academic institutions and companies. To early 2010, all but one of the company recipients were either start-ups or spin-outs. In May 2010, an additional £110 million was added to the SDDI fund with the intent to extend the initiative for an additional 5 years.
Support for Open Access and Open Data
The Wellcome Trust plays an important role in encouraging publication of research in open access repositories such as Europe PubMed Central (EuropePMC). The Wellcome Trust believes that maximising the distribution of these papers - by providing free, online access - is the most effective way of ensuring that the research can be accessed, read and built upon. In turn, this will foster a richer research culture.
In 2016, the Wellcome Trust partnered with the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to launch the Open Science Prize to "help develop services, tools and platforms that enable open content to be discovered, assessed and re-used in ways that will advance discovery and spark innovation."
In 2016, Wellcome Trust announced that it would be launching Wellcome Open Research, an open access publication system running on the F1000 Research platform. Article Processing Charges will be covered directly by Wellcome Trust.
Membership in the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (GHIT)
In the summer of 2015, the Wellcome Trust joined the Japanese government, 7 Japanese pharmaceutical and diagnostics companies, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the United Nations Development Program as funding partner of the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (GHIT), which funds scientific research and development for anti-infectives and diagnostics for diseases that primarily affect the developing world.
Public engagement and the Wellcome Collection
In June 2007, the Wellcome Building reopened after refurbishment as a public venue, housing the Wellcome Collection, the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at University College London and the Wellcome Library. The aim of the Wellcome Collection is to enhance public understanding of medical science and history. The building contains gallery spaces, conference facilities, space for debates, drama and workshops, a café and a bookshop. The galleries show a small sample of works from Sir Henry Wellcome's collection, and host a programme of events and exhibitions. The Wellcome Collection and exhibitions are open to the public free of charge six days a week.
The Wellcome Collection and Wellcome Library are members of The London Museums of Health & Medicine.
Wellcome Book Prize
The Wellcome Trust sponsors an annual book prize, the Wellcome Book Prize, which "aims to excite public interest and encourage debate" around medicine and health.
Purchase of the Co-operative Farms business
In August 2014, the Wellcome Trust bought the Co-operative Group's farm business (renamed Farmcare) for £249 million. This comprised "15,997 hectares (39,533 acres) of freehold and third party owned land, 15 farms, including three pack houses, over 100 residential properties, and 27 commercial properties."
Headquarters
The Wellcome Trust's operations are run from two buildings on Euston Road in London. The Wellcome Building, at 183 Euston Road, built in 1932 in Portland stone houses the Wellcome Collection and the adjoining glass and steel building at 215 Euston Road is the Gibbs Building, by Hopkins Architects, which opened in 2004 as the administrative headquarters of the Wellcome Trust.