Deerfield Management and BioSymetrics partner to discover and develop novel therapeutics

Collaboration to advance cardiology and neurology targets using phenomics and genomic data to improve human health

NEW YORK , Oct. 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Deerfield Management, a healthcare investment firm, and BioSymetrics, a phenomics-driven drug discovery company, today announced a five-year joint venture to accelerate the advancement of new therapeutics, with an initial focus on cardiovascular and neurological diseases. The collaboration will identify new drug discovery programs that combine BioSymetrics' AI-powered target discovery and validation platform with Deerfield's drug discovery and commercial modeling capabilities.

"BioSymetrics' platform creates proprietary and highly valuable insights into biology that can help identify novel therapeutics," said James Flynn, Managing Partner, Deerfield Management and Cure Founder. "Our collaboration focuses on complex conditions in cardiovascular and neurological disease where BioSymetrics' data and analytical capabilities can be particularly important. We are excited about the breakthroughs possible through this partnership."

BioSymetrics takes a phenomics-driven approach to advancing drug discovery. The company's target discovery platform uses machine learning to connect clinical and experimental data – including patient data from millions of electronic medical records, genomics, and experimental data captured in zebrafish models using proprietary computer vision – to identify high-confidence targets for drug discovery. Targets discovered using BioSymetrics' platform are grounded in human genetic evidence, giving them twice the likelihood of clinical success as demonstrated in the seminal paper by Matt Nelson, VP Genetics & Genomics at Deerfield Management. BioSymetrics is advancing programs in cardiometabolic, neurological, and rare diseases, including familial dilated cardiomyopathy, atherosclerosis, and epilepsy.

"Deerfield shares our philosophy of using human genetic evidence and rapid in vivo validation in target discovery," said Anthony Iacovone, Co-founder and CEO. "For a prolific target discovery platform like ours, Deerfield's strengths in drug discovery and healthcare expertise ensure that together we can aim to focus on the programs with the highest probability of success and drive forward the best science. We are enthusiastic to begin this effort and work together with Deerfield in translating complex clinical and experimental biology into actionable therapeutic development programs." 

Under the terms of the agreement, Deerfield and BioSymetrics will identify therapeutic targets using BioSymetrics' platform and database. Deerfield will provide target product profiles and due diligence support, commercial modeling services, and drug development plans and infrastructure for projects that the parties decide to advance.

Deerfield Management is an investment management firm committed to advancing healthcare through investment, information and philanthropy. The Firm works across the healthcare ecosystem to connect people, capital, ideas and technology in bold, collaborative and inclusive ways. For more information, please visit www.deerfield.com.

BioSymetrics is a phenomics-driven drug discovery company with a vision to translate data into discoveries. BioSymetrics integrates clinical and experimental data, using machine learning, to translate human disease biology and advance precision medicines. For more information, please visit www.biosymetrics.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

SOURCE Deerfield Management