The University of Manchester and pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) have agreed a new research alliance to identify research and drug therapy opportunities.

The partnership will also allow them to collaborate on projects that aim to better understand particular diseases and should help both organisations win research funding bids.

There will be a special focus on research methodologies like biomedical imaging and system biology.

Patrick Valliance, a spokesman for GSK, which has a major research base in the Northwest, said the pharmaceutical is "very excited by the opportunity to formalise links with the university which has invested heavily in its scientific capabilities".

GSK, which has a seven per cent share of the global pharmaceutical market, claims to spend more than £300,000 every hour to fund new treatments.

As well as GSK, the northwest is home to a number of major pharmaceutical companies, including AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, Sanofi-Aventis and Chiron Vaccines.