Duke University and Deerfield Management Announce Four Points Innovation
December 18, 2019
(Durham, NC and New York, NY, December 18, 2019)—Duke University and Deerfield Management Company, a healthcare investment firm, today announced the creation of a major translational research collaboration. Spearheaded by Duke University’s Office of Licensing & Ventures (OLV), the alliance is expected to accelerate the preclinical development of new drugs for improved quality of life and cures for disease.
“This is an exciting day for Duke and the patients we serve,” said Mary E. Klotman, MD, Dean, Duke University School of Medicine and Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs. “This new partnership will help further Duke’s commitment to improve the lives of people in our own community and around the world by supporting and accelerating the translation of research into new therapies to treat and cure society’s most formidable healthcare challenges.”
By way of a newly launched company called Four Points Innovation, up to $130 million of initial funding will be made available by Deerfield to back the initiative for 10 years. Deerfield also will provide development expertise in support of Duke’s innovative drug research across a span of high-need therapeutic areas, as well as those targeting patients who suffer from hard-to-treat and rare diseases.
A private company wholly owned by affiliates of Deerfield, Four Points Innovation will support Duke R&D projects throughout preclinical stages of drug discovery and development. Beginning approximately in March 2020, Duke researchers will have the ability to submit proposals on projects for consideration by a Four Points Innovation committee comprised of scientific leadership representing both Duke and Deerfield.
Accepted projects will include a development plan aimed at achieving Investigational New Drug (IND) readiness. Deerfield will provide funding and operational support for accepted projects, and successful projects that achieve IND-enabled status may be eligible for additional capital from Deerfield.
Duke’s Office of Licensing and Ventures broke previous records last year with 354 invention disclosures, 120 agreements, and 32 exclusive agreements. Duke faculty and staff formed sixteen new start-up companies during the year, bringing the university’s total to over 140 new companies. Over the last two years, 29 of the university’s 32 start ups have chosen to stay in North Carolina.
“Duke University, with its vast research enterprise, world-class investigators and novel innovations, is a leader in biomedical discovery,” said James E. Flynn, Managing Partner at Deerfield Management. “We are excited about entering into this partnership with Duke, as we collectively seek to develop new medicines to save lives and address unmet medical needs.”
Under the terms of the agreement, Four Points Innovation would receive an option to license Four Points Innovation-funded intellectual property developed at Duke.
ABOUT DUKE UNIVERSITY
Duke is a private research university in Durham, N.C. with nearly 16,000 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students and a world-class faculty helping to expand the frontiers of knowledge. The Duke School of Medicine is one of the nation’s leading centers for medical education, clinical care and biomedical research.
ABOUT DEERFIELD MANAGEMENT
Deerfield is a healthcare investment management firm committed to advancing healthcare through investment, information and philanthropy.
Four Points Innovation Selects Bryan Baines as Director, Scientific Collaboration
Wednesday, June 10, 2020
After a nationwide search, the Four Points Innovation Joint Steering Committee reviewed over 30 internal and external candidates and are happy to welcome Bryan Baines, RPh, as the new Director, Scientific Collaboration. Working with Duke investigators and the Four Points Joint Steering Committee, Baines will manage the alliance between Duke University and Deerfield.
Baines brings to Four Points not just 25+ years of broad knowledge and business experience in the biopharmaceutical industry but also an in-depth understanding of preclinical drug development, protection, and licensing. As an internal candidate, Baines joins Four Points from Duke’s Office of Licensing & Ventures where he has spent 14 years managing a wide variety of inventions in the oncology and therapeutic space, closing deals, and building relations with Duke innovators and external collaborators.
In December last year, Duke and Deerfield announced the launch of Four Points Innovation, a strategic partnership focused on supporting and accelerating the translation of Duke R&D projects throughout preclinical stages of drug discovery and development. Through this partnership, drug research projects from Duke will receive funding from Deerfield as well as development expertise in support of Duke’s innovative drug research across a span of high-need therapeutic areas.
Chancellor Washington speaking at Four Points Innovation Announcement Celebration, March 2020
Chancellor Washington speaking at the Four Points Innovation Announcement Celebration, March 2020
“We are pleased Bryan is joining our team,” said Donald McDonnell, PhD, Chair, Department of Pharmacology & Cancer Biology and Four Points Joint Steering Committee member. “His unique drug discovery experience and the relationships he’s built up at Duke and beyond will help move our projects from the lab into clinical development.”
Baines says he’s looking forward to assisting Duke PI’s in developing their life’s work and working with the drug development expertise within Deerfield. “The combination of assets at the fingertips of Duke inventors is unprecedented during my tenure at the university and I am excited about the untapped potential it brings to Duke.”
Baines started his career at Eli Lilly and Company and has worked in pharmaceutical sales, business development, product development, and executive management for Ockham Development Group (ODG), Inceutica, and AAIPharma. A native of North Carolina, Baines received his BS in Pharmacy from the School of Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Four Points closed its first round of proposal submissions on Friday, June 5th. Accepted projects will include a development plan aimed at achieving Investigational New Drug (IND) readiness and will receive funding and operational support from Deerfield. Successful projects that achieve IND-enabled status may be eligible for additional capital.
For more details please visit the Four Points website. www.fourpointsinnovation.com
