Deerfield Management Co. has announced the launch of a new $550 million healthcare venture-capital fund, Deerfield Healthcare Innovations Fund, L.P.

The firm indicated the new fund will invest in advancements in science that may lead to therapeutic interventions in genetic diseases, cancer and orphan diseases, as well as back new technologies focused on the development of therapeutics and delivery of healthcare.

All of Deerfield Healthcare Innovations Fund’s profits not allocated to investors will be donated to the Deerfield Partnership Foundation, which focuses on charitable purposes to improve the provision of healthcare services to underserved children and investment in healthcare research, including orphan diseases, age-related conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, and other therapeutic, diagnostic and healthcare service delivery breakthroughs.

Investors in the Deerfield Healthcare Innovations Fund include New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Memorial Sloan Kettering, Seattle Children’s Hospital, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Princeton University and Northwestern University.

Deerfield, based in New York, launched in 1994 with $17 million in equity. Today, the firm manages funds in excess of $5 billion.