Boston Children’s Gets $65M for Drug Discovery Innovation

Boston Children’s Hospital and Deerfield Management Company recently announced a research collaboration aimed at advancing drug discovery and development to address rare and complex pediatric diseases.

As Deerfield’s first research collaboration, the healthcare investment firm will pledge nearly $65 million to the initiative. The firm intends for the money to help boost innovation and potentially commercialize the work of Boston Children’s Hospital’s biomedical researchers. 

“Deerfield, a leading healthcare investor, will bring their unique expertise in drug discovery and development to the partnership, helping us translate our early stage discoveries into novel therapeutics,” Sandra L. Fenwick, chief executive officer at Boston Children’s Hospital, said in the announcement. 

“We value the opportunity to work with Deerfield and to leverage our investment in basic research for the betterment of children everywhere who suffer from terrible diseases and conditions,” Fenwick continued. 

The collaboration will give physician-scientists from Boston Children’s Hospital the opportunity to submit proposals for review to a committee of scientific leaders from both institutions. 

Additionally, Deerfield will introduce its development and operations expertise to speed up the development of cutting-edge treatments for patients across broad therapeutic areas, including rare diseases. 

The developments will also help to advance discoveries into potentially life-saving medications, the organizations stated.

“Boston Children’s world-class discovery platforms, including in genetics and rare diseases, and experience with highly diverse patient populations, epitomize the focus and vision we share,” said James E. Flynn, managing partner at Deerfield.

“Collectively, with our development expertise, we will advance novel treatments with the goal to improve and save lives. Our partnership could not come at a better time, as Deerfield launches our life science innovations campus, the Cure, which, will expand the expertise and support we can provide to our translational research partners.”

Experts believe that the next generation of therapies holds significant promise for patients and Boston Children’s Hospital is one of the top organizations in this space. 

Back in 2018, Boston Children’s Hospital received a $1.5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop more efficient gene therapies for sickle cell disease. The therapies were to be used in developing regions of the world. 

To develop effective therapies, individual DNA must be compared with a larger population and must go hand-in-hand with information about the overall population.

But according to the institution, the most significant barrier to pediatric research has been the ability to identify and engage large patient cohorts, especially when studying rare diseases.

So last October, leaders from Boston Children’s Hospital, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital (CCHMC)  collaborated to use a $8.5 million multi-year federal grant to advance genomics research. The award would allow the medical centers to share large amounts of genomic information while protecting patient privacy. 

Now, the institution’s partnership with Deerfield will advance its pipeline of therapies to get the biopharmaceutical innovations them into the hands of more people.

“A dearth of funding and expertise causes many academic stage discoveries to languish in the proverbial ‘valley of death’ on their way to becoming novel treatments for patients. Through this collaboration with Deerfield, Children’s is enhancing our ability to overcome these barriers,” stated Irene Abrams, vice president for technology development & new ventures and head of the technology & innovation development office.