Deerfield provides $20 million financing to Editas Medicine

Deerfield Management Company, L.P.'s venture capital fund, Deerfield Healthcare Innovations Fund, L.P., today announced its first therapeutics-based investment by participating, along with Deerfield Private Design Fund III, in providing financing to Editas Medicine. In total, Deerfield invested $20 million in this early-stage institutional financing.

Editas Medicine is at the forefront of developing CRISPR/Cas9, a genome-editing technology, which makes it possible to turn off or edit disease-causing genes, potentially leading to a cure. Deerfield's capital will support the advancement of multiple new therapies into studies which can prove their utility.

"Gene editing has the potential to cure diseases that currently result in significant disability or death," said Jim Flynn, managing partner of Deerfield. "Given the dozens of important disease targets where gene editing can play an important role and the transformative effective on lives that these new therapies can offer, Editas Medicine is the ideal initial therapeutic company investment by the Healthcare Innovations Fund."

"Deerfield's commitment to changing medical practice through innovative science and thoughtful investing matches our own, and we are privileged to have them as part of our team to help build Editas," said Katrine Bosley, CEO of Editas Medicine. "Deerfield has a long track record of supporting emerging biotechnology companies and helping them navigate the challenges of bringing important new medicines to patients."

The Deerfield Healthcare Innovations Fund, which launched in July, focuses on investing in early-stage companies with transformative new healthcare products and services. All of the fund's incentive profits go to the Deerfield Partnership Foundation to provide healthcare services for underserved children and promote medical innovation.