New York-based investment firm Deerfield Management on Wednesday said it has launched a $550 million healthcare venture capital fund to support companies developing advancements for treating genetic diseases, cancer and orphan diseases, and well as to support tech companies creating new therapeutic devices.
The Deerfield Healthcare Innovations Fund was created along with the Deerfield Partnership Foundation, a charitable branch of the firm that supports healthcare services for underserved populations.
[Also: Tracking 2015 mergers and acquisitions]
According to Deerfield, which in total manages more than $5 billion in investments, the new healthcare fund closed on the funding in July and features investments from prominent healthcare providers like New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Memorial Sloan Kettering and Seattle Children's Hospital, nonprofits such as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and universities including Princeton University and Northwestern University.
The fund hopes to add support to companies that support advances in genomics and disease research.
"The pullback in funding that has occurred for these innovations over the last decade could not have happened at a worse time," James Flynn, president and managing partner of Deerfield, said in a statement.
Follow Healthcare Finance on Twitter and LinkedIn.
"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."
Deerfield, which makes both private and public investments, funds startups and well as provides financing for acquisitions.
Twitter: @HenryPowderly