Ropes & Gray represented six pharmaceutical companies and Alzheimer’s Research UK in their investment in the Dementia Discovery Fund (DDF), a UK Government-sponsored fund established to support the discovery and development of novel dementia treatments.
This public-private collaboration is the first of its kind to address one of the most important global medical needs.
“This was a unique opportunity to represent six leading pharmaceutical companies and Alzheimer’s Research in their pioneering collaboration with the UK Government to fund new treatments for dementia,” says Matthew Judd, the Ropes & Gray private investment funds partner who led the deal. “The worlds of science, government, big pharma and venture capital have come together through innovative structuring, and the drive from all sides to achieve this meant that we completed a highly complex matter in a very short space of time.”
Launched on 21 October, the DDF is a new global investment fund established to deliver new drug approaches for dementia by 2025 to diagnose and provide early intervention to modify the course and symptoms of the disease, and thereby lay the foundations for effective therapies. SV Life Sciences, a leading international life sciences venture capital firm, has been appointed as fund manager for the DDF.
