Vanderbilt University has teamed up with Deerfield Management to catalyze the development of early stage therapeutics discovered at Vanderbilt through a new entity, Ancora Innovation (https://www.AncoraInnovation.com). Through Deerfield, an investment management firm committed to advancing health care, Ancora Innovations will provide up to $65 million in initial funding over five years to support the commercialization of early stage therapeutic research at Vanderbilt University and Vanderbilt University Medical Center, with additional funding available to advance research that shows strong commercial potential.
An RFP process has been launched to identify promising Vanderbilt therapeutic development projects, which will be utilized to select promising research opportunities by the Vanderbilt Selection Committee, and managed by the Vanderbilt-Ancora Joint Operations Committee. Researchers are strongly encouraged to review the slide deck from the recent Information Session by clicking the "RFP details and application" button below and following the link to Information Session. Development of selected projects will be supported by Ancora, advancing them from their existing state through the pre-clinical development process — including basic research, proof of concept, target selection and investigational new drug (IND)-enabling studies designed to qualify a candidate to enter into human clinical trials. Once IND-enabling studies are completed, the research developed within the collaboration will either be licensed to pharmaceutical partners or spun out into new companies. Funding for companies supported by Ancora are anticipated to include capital from Deerfield.
Projects eligible for the collaboration are limited to novel therapeutics for human diseases (small molecules and biologics) and associated enabling technologies. At a minimum, key biological insights and support data must exist, and eligible projects cannot possess contractual encumbrances from other industry partners (by virtue of industry sponsored research agreements or material transfer agreements, or other industry contractual or known intellectual property entanglements). Selected projects may result in funding for further development at Vanderbilt, at other contract research organizations (e.g., CROs) or a combination of the above.