The National Hemophilia Foundation announced the launch of Pathway to Cures (P2C), a new venture philanthropy investment fund focused on making an impact across all inheritable blood disorders.
The fund has been launched with an initial $3.5 million from the National Hemophilia Foundation as it begins fundraising with a $20 million target to invest in companies that “demonstrate significant potential to make an impact on the inheritable blood disorders community.”
P2C is currently in discussions for investment opportunities with the goal of investing capital in 2023. Teri Willey is also joining NHF as a managing director at P2C from IU Ventures, where she was the founding managing director of IU Ventures’ Indiana Philanthropic Venture Fund in Bloomington, Ind.
$14 billion
Current value of the global inheritable blood disorders treatment market
$20.6 billion
Estimated value of the global inheritable blood disorders treatment market by 2027
“I am honored to have this opportunity to use impact investing to innovate disease philanthropy and advance cures for inheritable blood disorders,” said Willey in a statement. “We believe there is a significant untapped investment opportunity and unmet need for supporting biotech companies in the clinical development of inheritable blood disorders therapies regardless of the indication or the size of the affected population.”
The global inheritable blood disorders treatment market is worth $14 billion currently and is expected to grow to $20.6 billion by 2027, according to industry estimates. Willey said that the market data is incomplete, however, in that it only looks at treatments for the three disorders with the highest prevalence and does not account for hundreds of other inheritable blood disorders that can’t be treated today.
P2C’s strategy is to attract outside private capital from traditional venture capital funds to invest alongside the fund and fill the early-stage funding gap, which experts say is a major roadblock to therapies being developed.
Governed separately from NHF, P2C will have an investment committee comprised of experienced life sciences investors and an independent scientific advisory board. Willey herself has over 35 years of experience commercializing early-stage research results.
Prior to P2C, Willey has served in life sciences roles including as vice president of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, as well as vice president for technology and business development for the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Additionally, she has founded four venture capital funds affiliated with academic institutions including Indiana University, the University of Cambridge in England, University of Notre Dame Business School and the University of Chicago.
As a venture philanthropy vehicle, P2C’s fund allows any realized gains from investment to be recycled back into the fund for re-investment. Officials said that this in turn magnifies the impact of donor dollars in as many high-quality opportunities as possible.
“NHF has done an amazing job catalyzing inheritable blood disorders research and awareness,” said Kevin Mills, chief scientific officer at NHF and head of P2C’s scientific advisory board, adding, “P2C will work in support of NHF’s overarching mission of a world without inheritable blood disorders as we create and accelerate the pathway for new life-changing therapies and treatments.”
