Eager to get in on new drugs at their start, GlaxoSmithKline is stepping up its efforts to invest in early-stage ventures that might just pay off big down the road.

The company is launching a new venture fund and appointing top-level exec Russell Greig to run it, a Glaxo spokesman said Tuesday. Greig (pictured) previously ran GlaxoÂ’s commercial business outside of the U.S., Europe and Japan.

The new fund will incorporate the activities of GlaxoÂ’s older venture fund, called SR One. The Glaxo spokesman declined to say how much money the new fund will have at its disposal. SR One’s site says it has invested more than $500 million in more than 30 companies since its founding in 1985.

The Glaxo spokesman said the new fund would aim to invest in early-stage technology or drugs that could provide the company either some financial return or access to new products. In a sign of the fundÂ’s importance, Greig will report directly to incoming chief executive Andrew Witty and not to Glaxo’s head of R&D. Witty, who takes over later this month, moved Greig into his new role after an executive reshuffling announced last week.

Big Pharma is venture happy these days, with many companies sporting similar funds. Last summer Pfizer hired Barbara Dalton, who once ran Glaxo’s SROne, to head its Strategic Investments Group, the company’s in-house VC shop. Novartis Venture Fund manages more than $600 million of investments in over 60 companies. Johnson & Johnson has been in the venture game since 1973 and invests up to $5 million per company, depending on the financing round.

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