Deerfield Management is kicking off a $550 million biotech venture fund – and has an impressive and unconventional slew of backers for a partnership that will direct all profits toward charitable purposes.
Investors include New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Memorial Sloan Kettering, Seattle Children’s Hospital, and philanthropies like the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Princeton University and Northwestern University are among the investors as well.
The biotech fund will be geared toward therapies in genetic diseases, cancer and orphan conditions. They’ll also focus on drug development methods and delivery.
Deerfield, around since 1994, manages more than $5 billion in funds – all in companies related to healthcare.
The dollars from this fund, which is quite large in terms of healthcare-focused funds, will donate the profits that aren’t allocated to investors to the Deerfield Partnership Foundation, which has thus far raised more than $25 million to advance children’s health in New York City, the venture firm said in a statement. This time, the donations will advance care for underserved children, as well as research in orphan diseases and age-related conditions like Alzheimer’s.
“Our unique model of producing research through the Deerfield Institute and our philanthropic endeavors through the Deerfield Foundation allows us to provide value to innovative institutions, companies and patients that goes well beyond capital,” James Flynn, president and managing partner of Deerfield, said in a statement.
