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Origin

In a time of capital scarcity, Cancer Focus Fund was formed as a beacon of opportunity. It was equipped with capital to invest in first-in-class drugs that were ready to advance in clinical trials at the #1 ranked academic cancer center in the world.

Cancer Focus Fund is the brainchild of Dr. Ferran Prat, who leads strategy and business partnerships for the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He saw an opportunity to advance cancer care by investing in emerging therapies and enabling them to run clinical trials at MD Anderson Cancer Center, which has the largest pool of patients in the world and the expertise to run Phase I clinical trials.

Dr. Prat’s idea was original. No other cancer hospital has a venture capital fund for marshaling resources to run clinical trials.

MD Anderson enlisted Ross Barrett to launch the fund. Mr. Barrett had started several VC funds, including one that invested in a cancer drug being tested at MD Anderson Cancer Center.

In August 2019, the Board of Regents of the University of Texas approved MD Anderson Cancer Center’s participation in Cancer Focus Fund, LP. The first fund was launched three months later, anchored by an investment from the Baton Rouge Area Foundation.

Cancer Focus Fund has invested in drugs that are based on cell therapy, immunotherapy, targeted therapies and radio-therapeutics.

Strategic partners in the first fund include MD Anderson Cancer Center, Ochsner Health (the largest health care operator in the Gulf South with 43 hospitals and clinics) and LSU Feist-Weiller Cancer Center. 

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