NEW YORK– Deerfield Management Company (Deerfield), a healthcare investment management firm focused on advancing healthcare through investment, information and philanthropy, and Baylor College of Medicine (Baylor) today announced a major research collaboration to advance promising therapeutics and support pharmaceutical research and discovery. The Blue Square Discoveries program will expand the resources and expertise available to Baylor to further advance discoveries beyond the laboratory.
Deerfield pledged up to $130 million over 10 years to the Blue Square Discoveries program with the goals of accelerating Baylor’s biomedical discoveries and bringing life-saving therapeutics to market.
“Baylor College of Medicine’s prowess in foundational research has significantly advanced our understanding of disease. These discoveries can lead to life-saving therapies to transform the lives of patients,” said James E. Flynn, Managing Partner at Deerfield. “We are committed to advancing healthcare and this partnership will better equip us in our mission. We are proud to have Baylor College of Medicine join us in this initiative.”
Deerfield will provide funding and operational support to advance mutually agreed upon research initiatives to the market. Using its managerial, operational and drug development expertise, Deerfield will help Baylor expedite treatments for patients across a broad span of therapeutic areas, addressing critical shortcomings and unmet medical needs.
“This new research collaboration will provide us the opportunity to bring our new discoveries in genetics and therapeutics to the bedside in a more efficient and effective way,” said Paul Klotman, M.D., President, CEO and Executive Dean of Baylor College of Medicine.
“The Deerfield relationship represents a new way for Baylor to engage with industry, while also aligning to the strategic mission of Baylor College of Medicine Ventures,” said Shawn Davis, VP and Chief Ventures Officer for BCM Ventures. “Developing a long-term relationship with a collaborator who can drive targets from discovery to commercialization is a great opportunity for our faculty’s success in the drug discovery field.”
“This collaboration will allow us to combine Baylor’s strength in identifying disease-causing protein targets with an innovative chemistry platform,” said Damian Young, Ph.D., Associate Director of the Center for Drug Discovery and Assistant Professor of Pharmacology & Chemical Biology and Pathology & Immunology at Baylor. Young will also serve as the Scientific Business Development Manager for the collaboration.
With the launch of the agreement, researchers at Baylor will have the opportunity to submit proposals for review to a committee comprised of scientific leadership from both Baylor and Deerfield. Each accepted project will receive the resources and expertise required to bring it through the discovery research phase and to clinical testing. Additional resources are available to provide funding and operational support thereafter.
Projects that proceeded successfully may receive additional funding from Deerfield. Under the agreement, in exchange for funding, Blue Square Discoveries would receive an option to license intellectual property developed at Baylor.
Deerfield recently opened Cure, a 12-story innovations campus in New York City which includes laboratories, lecture, and office space, as well as technology and other amenities for physician-scientists and entrepreneurs across the life science industry. Cure will expand the expertise and support Deerfield can provide its translational research partners to further enhance collaboration.
