Dementia Discovery Fund (DDF), a strategic investment fund backed by pharmaceutical firms Biogen, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly, Otsuka, Pfizer and Takeda, reached a $350m final close on Monday.
The completion of the fund came through a $60m commitment from senior citizen’s lobbying group AARP.
DDF also identified care provider UnitedHealth, insurance supplier Aegon, diagnostic testing services firm Quest Diagnostics and the UK government-owned British Patient Capital as new backers.
In addition to the corporates, the fund’s limited partners include labour organisation the NFL Players Association, the UK Department of Health and Social Care, Alzheimer’s Research UK, investment firm Woodford Investment Management and entrepeneur Bill Gates.
DDF is managed by venture capital firm SV Life Sciences andd was launched in 2015 with $100m of funding from Biogen, GSK, Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly, Pfizer and Takeda. It invests in research for dementia treatments and originally had a target size of $200m.
The fund has made 16 early-stage investments to date, primarily backing drug discovery companies and projects in the UK and the US. It is particularly interested in businesses that apply insights from oncology and immunology.
The final close was announced alongside the appointment of Angus Grant as chief executive. Grant was previously vice-president of business development at pharmaceutical firm Celgene.