Lab1636 — Harvard–Deerfield R&D Alliance

Lab1636 — Harvard–Deerfield R&D Alliance

Supports collaboration between Harvard and Deerfield to advance novel therapeutic discoveries toward clinical validation for patient impact.

Lab1636 is a major strategic translational research alliance between Harvard University and Deerfield Management, a healthcare-focused investment firm, established to catalyze the development of novel therapeutics and rapidly drive Harvard biomedical innovations toward clinical validation. Deerfield Management committed $100 million to establish the alliance, making Lab1636 one of the largest industry-academic R&D partnerships at Harvard. The alliance is administered by Harvard's Office of Technology Development (OTD), which solicits and reviews proposals from Harvard principal investigators on a continuous rolling basis. The program name Lab1636 reflects Harvard's founding year (1636) and its positioning as a bridge between university discovery and clinical-stage development.

Eligibility is restricted to Harvard researchers and PIs with biomedical and therapeutic projects; external applicants are not eligible. The alliance focuses on drug discovery and development of novel therapeutics across biomedical conditions, with clinical validation as the stated goal. A documented first project commitment involved advancing a Harvard innovation toward a potential therapeutic for tactile hypersensitivity in autism spectrum disorder. Historical targeted RFAs have also been issued for specific disease areas, such as rare genetic diseases. The application process begins with a Letter of Intent (LOI), followed by confidential review by Harvard OTD and Lab1636, with full proposals invited from selected LOIs.

All communications and proposals are treated as confidential by Harvard OTD and Lab1636, which addresses IP-sensitivity concerns common to early-stage therapeutic projects. Periodic targeted RFAs supplement the rolling solicitation and are announced on the OTD news page. Because the $100 million alliance pool supports the overall program rather than individual per-award ceilings, per-project award sizes are not published publicly. Harvard PIs with therapeutic development projects should submit LOIs to OTDalliances@harvard.edu and monitor otd.harvard.edu/corporate-alliances/ for any targeted RFA announcements.