NEW YORK– APRIL 9, 2024 – Cure.®, a healthcare innovation campus in New York City, has opened applications to the XSeed Award, an annual competitive program designed to disrupt the status quo by supporting traditionally underfunded and underrepresented minority- and women-led life science and healthcare startups working on drug development in New York City. Deerfield Management, a New York City-based healthcare investment firm, founded and supports the XSeed Award.

In 2024, two winning teams will become eligible to receive up to $250,000 each. They also will join the Cure ecosystem with their fellow awardees to receive entrepreneurshipmentoring and networking designed to help them move promising translational research to the marketplace and commercial success. The deadline for XSeed Award application submissions is May 31, 2024, and virtual finalist presentations will be June 28, 2024. The program will announce winners on Sept. 2, 2024, and they will receive honors at an official ceremony at Cure in October 2024. 

“The XSeed Award is designed to bring equity and diversity to life science and healthcare innovation, where ongoing barriers critically impact the cures developed for underserved communities and the careers of scientists from underrepresented communities. For example, Black and female scientists remain significantly less likely than their white or male colleagues to receive three or more NIH research grants, a threshold that academic institutions prioritize for faculty hires and retention,[i]” said James E. Flynn, Managing Partner at Deerfield and Cure Founder. “Deerfield is pleased to continue our collaboration on the transformational XSeed program, alongside the NYCEDC, Cure and the experts who comprise our enthusiastic XSeed Award Leadership Committee.”

In addition to advancing their research, the 2024 cohort of X-Seed Award winners will enhance their entrepreneurial skills, networks and visibility via the Cure ecosystem. Graduates of each cohort will then serve as mentors and coaches for future cohorts, further strengthening the entrepreneurial community in New York City.

“The Cure ecosystem of industry, investment and innovation experts is an ideal setting to mentor XSeed Award winners and hone their business knowledge to help their life science and healthcare achievements,” said Seema Kumar, CEO of Cure. “We look forward to welcoming the XSeed Award winners who, along with the Cure Xchange Challenge winners, are startups advancing health through collaboration and community building via Cure.”

Deerfield and the New York City Economic Development Corporation launched the XSeed Award as a yearly program in 2020 to provide funding to help address critical funding gaps for the diverse population of most talented researchers and entrepreneurs in New York City.  Advancium Health Network, an independent non-profit organization launched by Deerfield Management and dedicated to advancing healthcare and health equity, has helped operationalize the XSeed Awards since 2022.

“The XSeed Award program aims to break down barriers and create equal opportunity in the life sciences sector by supporting minority- and women-led research and early-stage ventures to help yield the medicines of tomorrow,” said New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) Chief Strategy Officer Cecilia Kushner. “As Cure’s ecosystem expands, the XSeed Award program will continue to help establish New York City as both a premier and inclusive hub for the life sciences industry. We are thrilled to be working alongside Deerfield and Cure again to support this important effort.”

XSeed Leadership Committee 

Finalists will present their work to an esteemed panel comprised of the XSeed Award Leadership Committee, which includes Joseph Pearlberg, MD, PhD, Vice President of Scientific Affairs at Deerfield and committee co-chair; Claire Pomeroy, MD, President and CEO of the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation; Christine Brideau, Head of Preclinical Pharmacology, Deerfield Management; Glennis Mehra, Ph.D., Director of Biolabs@NYULangone; and Jane Williams, MD, MPH, Vice President, head of Neuroscience, Rare Disease and Pediatrics at Syneos Health.

To learn more about the XSeed Award’s applicant eligibility criteria and to submit applications, visit https://wewillcure.com/xseed-award

About XSeed

Deerfield created the XSeed Award program in September 2019 through a partnership with the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) to aid the development of the Deerfield-founded healthcare innovation campus Cure. Deerfield and NYCEDC launched the XSeed Award in December 2020, with the first cohort of winners announced in April 2021.

Since its inception, the XSeed program has helped fill early-stage funding gaps within the life sciences industry by identifying and supporting promising translational research and commercial opportunities of underrepresented and underfunded startups, financially and through a mentorship cohort. To learn more about the XSeed Award, visit https://wewillcure.com/xseed-award.

About Deerfield Management

Deerfield 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.

About Cure.^®
Cure is a healthcare innovation campus in the heart of New York City that features laboratory and business facilities, a collaboration residency, office space and premium event venues, including an education center, conference center, and iconic rooftop facility, as well as tools, mentoring, networking, and other assistance to members of its ecosystem. Cure houses on-campus startup and established companies. Residents regularly create synergies and collaborative partnerships with peer organizations across the spectrum of healthcare, from academic or private to non-profit or government, and focus on diagnostic, device, drug or vaccine discovery, development and production as well as care delivery and public health. Cure also offers industry-leading event programming focused on critical health topics. Cure’s mission is to foster and accelerate advances in health. For more information, please visit wewillcure.com.

Cure Media Contact:
Caroline Drucker
[email protected]
(917) 588-3016

[i] Nguyen M, Chaudhry SI, Desai MM, Dzirasa K, Cavazos JE, Boatright D. Gender, Racial, and Ethnic and Inequities in Receipt of Multiple National Institutes of Health Research Project Grants. JAMA Netw Open. 2023;6(2):e230855. Published 2023 Feb 1. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.0855.

The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) is a not-for-profit medical research organization that discovers, develops, and delivers safe, effective, and affordable treatments for neglected people. DNDi is developing medicines for sleeping sickness, leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, river blindness, mycetoma, dengue, pediatric HIV, advanced HIV disease, cryptococcal meningitis, and hepatitis C. Its research priorities include children’s health, gender equity and gender-responsive R&D, and diseases impacted by climate change. Since its creation in 2003, DNDi has joined with industry, academia, government, and philanthropic partners across the globe to deliver 12 new treatments, saving millions of lives.

Sometimes, a device is all that stands in the way of an individual with a disability achieving independence or pursuing their passion. When that device is not available in the marketplace, that’s when May We Help’s volunteers step in. They are a team of engineers, industrial designers, inventors, welders, woodworkers, seamstresses, doctors, occupational and physical therapists whose skill sets come together to design, build and deliver custom devices at no cost to hundreds of recipients every year.

NEW YORK, April 3, 2023 — Deerfield Management Company, a healthcare investment firm and Advancium Health Network, a public charity dedicated to eliminating barriers to the advancement of healthcare, today announced the grant recipients and winners of the third annual XSeed Award. The winners will each receive a $250,000 grant to support business growth.  Founded in 2019, The XSeed Award supports women- and minority-led life science startups in New York City to help address critical funding gaps and bridge promising translational research to the marketplace and commercial success.

The award ceremony will take place today at the Cure® healthcare innovation campus and include remarks from the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC). To watch the award ceremony, join the Deerfield Management LinkedIn live stream using this link.

“We are thrilled for this year’s grant recipients. We know that life sciences researchers and entrepreneurs face real hurdles when working to commercialize translational research; the XSeed Award seeks to support women- and minority-led companies in New York to grow opportunity for them and the city,” said Mark Veich, President, Advancium Health Network “This program illustrates the strong commitment and collaboration taking place across the public, private and not-for-profit sectors in New York City to create a stronger, more diverse life sciences ecosystem.”

The winners of the 2023 year’s program are:

• Rohini Kalvakuntla, Co-Founder & Chief Growth Officer, Helex: A pre-clinical stage biotechnology company developing novel 3D genome structures and epigenetics-driven in vivo gene editing therapeutics for greater precision, with a focus on retinal dystrophies
• Chidiebere Awah M.D., Ph.D., Principal Investigator, UTR Therapeutics, Inc. and Genome Engineering Postdoctoral Fellow with Olorunseun O. Ogunwobi, M.D., Ph.D., at Hunter College of The City University of New York. UTR Therapeutics is developing a breakthrough technology platform to change how we treat cancer. The platform can overwrite and control oncogenic transcript of undruggable c-MYC and HER2 by engineering the 3’UTR and selectively killing cancer over expressing it, including metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

The award winners presented their submissions to the XSeed Leadership Panel, including:

• Claire Pomeroy, M.D., President and CEO of the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation
• Nancy Thornberry, Founding CEO at Kallyope, Inc.
• Elise Wang, Partner at Deerfield Management
• Joseph Pearlberg, M.D., Ph.D., Vice President of Scientific Affairs at Deerfield Management
• H.C. Huang, Ph.D., Senior Director, Deerfield Discovery and Development
• Jennifer Laird, VP, Search & Evaluation –Neuroscience at Eli Lilly

“The XSeed Award program continues to reinforce the immense and diverse talent pool that exists in New York City’s life sciences sector,” said New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) President and CEO Andrew Kimball. “Across all of EDC’s priority innovation industries, including biotech, we are focused on creating pathways for diverse entrepreneurs. We look forward to watching UTR Therapeutics, Inc. and Helex grow the City’s life sciences ecosystem in the years to come.” 

In addition to the grant funding, XSeed Award winners receive access to the Cure innovation campus, which includes invitations to special events and networking opportunities. Cure offers state-of-the-art laboratory and office space to its residents and is currently home to nearly 20 healthcare-focused companies. Awardees also become part of their own cohort which was designed to help educate on best-practices, bolster professional networks, and raise company visibility.

“New York City must be a leader in life sciences, and I commend Deerfield Management and the New York City Economic Development Corporation for their collaboration that has propelled innovation and strengthened the industry locally. I extend warm congratulations to Rohini Kalvakuntla and Chidiebere Awah on winning the XSeed Award, which will help support meaningful research and work to improve healthcare delivery and outcomes. The XSeed Award ensures that the life sciences industry reflects the great diversity of our city, and supports women and underrepresented populations to improve lives and move life sciences forwards,” said New York City Council Member Carlina Rivera (D-02).

“The XSeed Award will allow Helex’s Rohini Kalvakuntla and UTR Therapeutics’ Chidiebere Awah to make critical advances in the life sciences that will ultimately make New Yorkers and people around the world healthier,” said Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine. “This award is an invaluable platform for elevating and catalyzing life science startups led by people of marginalized identities. I look forward to seeing how XSeed’s model of awards, mentorship, and network-building help create a more diverse future for the life sciences,” said Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine.

About the XSeed Award

The XSeed Award program will help address a critical funding gap, bridging promising translational research to marketplace and commercial success. Each year Deerfield Management and a panel of industry experts select up to two teams that will be awarded up to $250,000 each. Importantly, in addition to receiving award funding, the winning teams will join a cohort of their fellow awardees. Each winning team has diverse members including women and other underrepresented minorities. Through the XSeed Award cohort, it is anticipated that these startups will bolster their network and significantly raise their visibility. Graduates of each cohort are expected to in turn serve as mentors and coaches for future cohorts, further strengthening the entrepreneurial community in New York City. To learn more about the XSeed Award, visit www.xseedaward.com.

About Deerfield Management

Deerfield 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.

About Advancium Health Network

Advancium Health Network is an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organization launched by Deerfield Management dedicated to eliminating barriers to the advancement of healthcare. Our Network includes a pediatric medical device company, CobiCure LLC and life sciences incubator, Cure Innovation Labs. For more information on Advancium Health Network, visit: https://advanciumhealth.org/.

Media Contact:

Anthony Karamourtopoulos

[email protected]

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Nov. 29, 2022 – Deerfield Management Company, a New York City-based healthcare investment firm and Advancium Health Network, a public charity dedicated to advancing healthcare services and health equity through philanthropic investment, announced today the third annual XSeed Award, a program designed to support early-stage life science, minority- and women-led startups in New York City. A change from previous award seasons, this year, two life science startup companies will each be awarded up to $250,000.

“We are excited to continue the XSeed Award program this year, alongside the NYCEDC and our enthusiastic team of board members,” said James E. Flynn, Managing Partner at Deerfield and Cure Founder. “In just our third year, it has already been extremely rewarding to see the program winners progress.”

Finalists will present their work to an esteemed panel that includes: Claire Pomeroy, M.D., President and CEO of the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation; Elise Wang, Partner at Deerfield; Jenny Laird, VP, Search & Evaluation, Neuroscience at Eli Lilly; Joseph Pearlberg, M.D., Ph.D., Vice President of Scientific Affairs at Deerfield and H.C. Huang, Ph.D., Senior Director, Preclinical Pharmacology, Deerfield Discovery and Development at Deerfield; Nancy Thornberry, Founding CEO at Kallyope.

The deadline for submission is January 16 and virtual finalist presentations will be on March 2, 2023. The winners will be announced on April 3 during the award ceremony at Cure®. To learn more about the XSeed Award’s applicant eligibility criteria and to submit applications, visit www.xseedaward.com. 

The XSeed Award program was established by Deerfield in 2019 and made possible through a partnership with the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) to aid the development of the Deerfield-founded life sciences campus, Cure. Since its inception, the XSeed program has helped fill early-stage funding gaps within the life sciences industry by identifying and supporting promising translational research and commercial opportunities, financially and through a unique mentorship cohort.

In addition to the financial support, the winning teams will receive access to Cure’s networking ecosystem and campus, which includes move-in ready laboratory and office space, and other critical amenities tailored to physician-scientists and industry-focused entrepreneurs.

“The XSeed Award program addresses multiple factors critical to bolstering a thriving life sciences ecosystem in New York, and we are thrilled to be working alongside Deerfield again, to support this important effort,” said NYCEDC President and CEO Andrew Kimball. “As the Cure ecosystem expands, this program will continue to help establish New York as both a premier and inclusive hub for the life sciences industry.”

Former XSeed Award winner, Shardule Shah, PhD, MBA, who currently serves as Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Lime Therapeutics, said of the program: “Receiving the XSeed Award by Deerfield was a pivotal event in our company’s young history. The cash prize is a tremendous benefit, but equally valuable is the mentorship we have received from the Deerfield team as we advance our novel therapeutics toward the clinic. It helps to get expert guidance from people that have been there before. Understanding the technical roadmap we need to execute in order to pair with our business milestones was one of the key learnings we received during our mentorship meetings. These learnings have helped shape our company’s long-term strategy. The entire XSeed Award committee truly cares about supporting startups, especially those from underrepresented backgrounds and looking to build within New York City. We are incredibly grateful for the difference that receiving the XSeed Award has meant for our company and we encourage all who are eligible to apply.”

About the XSeed Award

The XSeed Award program will help address a critical funding gap, bridging promising translational research to marketplace and commercial success. Each year Deerfield Management and a panel of industry experts select up to two teams that will be awarded up to $250,000 each. Importantly, in addition to receiving award funding, the winning teams will join a cohort of their fellow awardees. Each winning team has diverse members including women and other underrepresented minorities. Through the XSeed Award cohort, it is anticipated that these startups will bolster their network and significantly raise their visibility. Graduates of each cohort are expected to in turn serve as mentors and coaches for future cohorts, further strengthening the entrepreneurial community in New York City. To learn more about the XSeed Award, visit www.xseedaward.com.

About Deerfield Management

Deerfield 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.

Media Contact:

Caroline Drucker

[email protected]

(212)-582-8296

Advancium Health Network is a volunteer-driven 501(c)(3) charitable organization mission-focused on advancing human equity and accelerating innovation to improve health for people globally.

Advancium Health recognizes that a highly linked, more diverse community of healthcare innovators and providers is foundational to tackling health disparities, expanding treatment options, and finding cures, especially for rare diseases. The network is built to bring together people from academic medical centers, research universities, healthcare companies, start-ups, financial institutions, government, and nonprofit organizations. 

The Manjushree Vidyapith School cares for and educates needy children from a vast area of the Northeast Himalaya, Indo-Tibet border. The organization’s focus is on the upliftment and protection of girls and differently abled children. The school reports that they place great emphasis on human kindness, compassion and love with a hope to inspire young people to act with a good heart, to become leaders in their communities and to help bring peace to the world.

The Magdi Yacoub Global Heart Foundation works to dramatically change the health outcomes of the most vulnerable, particularly children, by improving comprehensive, advanced cardiac care available to all people in need, free of charge.

The Family Center’s mission is to strengthen families affected by crisis, illness or loss to create a more secure present and future for their children. The Family Center offers evidence-based, trauma-informed social, legal, behavioral health and mental health services to New Yorkers and their families. Their team combines a keen business sense with a personalized approach, partnering with these families to plan their next steps and long-term solutions. Family Center trademarks are at-home visits and coordinated support strategies. Many client families are struggling with a severe trauma or loss. By staying with these families every step of the way, The Family Center builds stability, trust, and sustainable results. Staff work to provide immediate care and ensure a secure future for parents and children. Working with The Family Center, vulnerable NYC children and families stay stronger, longer.

Many Hopes rescues children from poverty and abuse in Mombasa, Kenya by providing essential healthcare and education to local children so they can learn to solve the problems that charity alone cannot. It provides them with loving homes and excellent schooling complete with the physical, mental and emotional healing of the whole child necessary for them to excel.