Invitae and Deerfield Management Team Up on Novel Therapeutics for Rare Diseases

On March 22, 2023, Invitae, a US-based medical genetics company, and Deerfield Management, a US-based healthcare investment firm, announced that they are partnering to advance genetics-based drug discovery and development in rare diseases. Under the agreement, the partnership will harness genetics and clinical data from millions of patients and apply that data to Deerfield's drug discovery and development expertise.

The two parties aim to address research gaps in the drug discovery process by drawing insights from Invitae's data platform. The platform includes sizable cohorts of rare disease patients. Through collaboration, the companies will analyze data from the more than 3.6 million genetic tests delivered by Invitae that are linked to longitudinal clinical data, which will strictly follow patients' preferences for sharing of their data. The companies believe that by combining Invitae’s data with Deerfield’s analytics expertise, they will be well-suited to uncover insights needed to discover and validate new rare disease targets, according to a company press release.

"Invitae's core objectives include expanding access to genetic information to improve healthcare for patients. Through this partnership, we intend to serve millions of families affected by rare diseases with high unmet needs," said Farid Vij, general manager of patient network and data at Invitae, in the release. "Our genetic and clinical data platform is highly enriched with patients possessing rare disorders, enabling a deeper understanding of the natural history and genetic basis of these diseases, and improving the success rate of new clinical programs."

"Despite significant research efforts, there are thousands of rare diseases without a line of sight toward a viable therapeutic intervention," said Matt Nelson, head of genetics and genomics at Deerfield Management, in the release. "Invitae's unique data and analytics capabilities position it to interrogate genetic effects on rare and many other diseases. With Deerfield's extensive experience in rare diseases and drug discovery, we believe there is strong potential for this partnership to uncover valuable patient insights and create important therapies for a range of currently untreatable conditions."

Source: Invitae