NEW YORK & TAMPA, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Moffitt Cancer Center, one of the nation’s leading cancer care and research institutions, and Deerfield Management, a health care investment firm, announced today a major translational research alliance to accelerate the development of new therapeutics to treat cancer. Through a newly launched company called Bayfield Therapeutics LLC, Deerfield has committed up to $130 million over the next 10 years to this new collaboration.
“This partnership is a strong representation of what we aim to achieve at Deerfield to help shape the future of health care,” said James E. Flynn, managing partner at Deerfield Management. “Alongside the impressive team at Moffitt, we’ll have the opportunity to combine our financial, operational and development expertise with their existing pipeline, offering a flexible approach and access to additional resources that will ideally bring several new and improved therapeutic solutions to patients battling cancer.”
“This new research collaboration will help build upon Moffitt’s stellar reputation of translating our research from the bench to the bedside. Through Bayfield Therapeutics we aim to accelerate the rate at which we are translating these discoveries, into potentially lifesaving therapies for cancer patients,” said John Cleveland, Ph.D., executive vice president and center director of Moffitt. “Together, we hope to make a lasting impact on cancer care, improving outcomes for patients in our community and beyond.”
Bayfield Therapeutics, LLC is a private company wholly owned by affiliates of Deerfield Management. Its goal is to fund projects that have uncovered novel therapeutics that have the potential to cure life-altering diseases. This collaboration will build upon the robust drug pipeline already established by scientists at Moffitt.
“We are very excited to partner with Deerfield in this effort to advance novel cancer drugs toward the clinic. Moffitt has a strong and innovative basic and pre-clinical drug discovery pipeline with deep expertise in state-of-the-art technologies,” said Derek Duckett, Ph.D., chair of the Drug Discovery Department at Moffitt. “With the operational support from Deerfield, we are confident that this new collaboration will accelerate the development of our unique and promising molecules to achieve Investigational New Drug readiness.”
As part of the alliance, Deerfield will provide development expertise to help shepherd potential cutting-edge treatments to cancer patients.
Starting this fall, researchers at Moffitt will have the opportunity to submit proposals to Deerfield for review. Each selected project will receive resources and expertise to support the progression from the discovery research phase to clinical testing. Selected proposals will also have eligibility for additional capital investments to create spinoff companies.
About Moffitt Cancer Center
Moffitt is dedicated to one lifesaving mission: to contribute to the prevention and cure of cancer. The Tampa-based facility is one of only 53 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers, a distinction that recognizes Moffitt’s scientific excellence, multidisciplinary research, and robust training and education. Moffitt’s expert nursing staff is recognized by the American Nurses Credentialing Center with Magnet® status, its highest distinction. With more than 7,800 team members, Moffitt has an economic impact in the state of $2.4 billion. For more information, call 1-888-MOFFITT (1-888-663-3488), visit MOFFITT.org, and follow the momentum on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
About Deerfield Management
Deerfield is an investment management firm committed to advancing healthcare through investment, information and philanthropy. The Firm works across the healthcare ecosystem to connect people, capital, ideas and technology in bold, collaborative and inclusive ways. For more information, please visit www.deerfield.com.