CureAcceleratorTM, interactive platform dedicated to Repurposing Research, announces public launch

Created by Cures Within Reach, CureAccelerator connects funders, researchers, clinicians, patient groups, and the biomedical industry to create new treatments from existing drugs and devices
 
Created by Cures Within Reach
Created by Cures Within Reach
SKOKIE, Ill. - May 27, 2015 - PRLog -- Cures Within Reach (Cures) received a $500,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) in 2014 to build CureAccelerator, the world’s first online, interactive platform dedicated to explore whether drugs, devices and nutriceuticals approved for one or more human diseases can be repurposed to create “new” treatments in other diseases. The platform is now being publicly launched with the goal of connecting researchers, funders, clinicians, the biomedical industry and patient groups to drive more treatments to more patients more quickly.

Eight percent of the world’s population has a life-changing disease for which there is no universally effective therapy. Repurposing Research is a patient-focused, quick, inexpensive and efficient process for creating “new” treatments by starting with already approved drugs, devices, and nutriceuticals. While the conventional for-profit “New Discovery” system routinely takes 10-14 years and costs $1.5 billion per successful new drug launch, many Repurposing Research projects can get to patients through off-label use in as little as 18-36 months and for a research cost of less than $250,000.

CureAccelerator launched in a private beta version in January, with a small pool of users, and has been building features and activity behind the scenes since then. Version 1.0 has three main components: Conversation Forums, Requests for Proposals (posted by funders), and Project Submissions (posted by researchers and clinicians.) Additional features are planned for version 2.0.

The fundamental goal of the site is to drive repurposed treatments to patients. In support of this, CureAccelerator will:

·     build a vital Repurposing Research community

·     generate clinical trials to test repurposed therapies, within an open repurposing research “marketplace”

·     create a new medical research model promoting transparency and efficiency

The public launch of CureAccelerator will be celebrated in Chicago on May 27th, 2015 at the Cures Within Reach BioScience Awards Midwest, sponsored in part by Astellas, Takeda Pharmaceuticals and PwC. www.cureswithinreach.org/bam. To learn more about and participate in CureAccelerator, please visit www.cureaccelerator.org

CureAccelerator’s advisory board includes global representation from the pharmaceutical industry, academic researchers and staff, clinical medicine, the National Center for Advancing Translational Science, medical research foundations, patient advocacy groups, and bioinformatics specialists.

Advisory board members and beta users have been critical in shaping the platform’s functionality. “CureAccelerator is a great opportunity to improve patients’ lives. I know that when I connect with like-minded people, together we can accelerate and enhance the impact of repurposing research,” says Gauthier Bouche, Medical Director at the AntiCancer Fund.

“Repositioning existing drugs for new diseases represents the most cost and time effective means to systematically deliver new treatments to patients in need. However, the business case for any single stakeholder remains challenging. CureAccelerator provides the essential coordination function, and ensures the unified focus to translate new drug-disease hypotheses, through clinical testing to patient care,” adds Craig Webb, Chief Scientific Officer, NuMedii, Inc.

“We are creating an affordable, scalable, and sustainable system to rapidly discover medical solutions for patients with unsolved diseases,” said Dr. Bruce Bloom, President and Chief Science Officer of Cures Within Reach. “In the first 8 weeks of CureAccelerator’s beta period, with less than 200 users, we created 2 powerful new collaborations with a direct path toward validating and refining repurposed treatments for patient populations that are waiting for something that works. As we launch CureAccelerator to the public, we already have 6 funded repurposing clinical trials underway.”

While an RWJF grant funded the creation of the CureAccelerator platform, RWJF grant funds will not be used to conduct any medical research. Additional in-kind and financial support to CureAccelerator has been provided by Science Exchange, K&L Gates, The Kahlert Foundation and others.

ABOUT CURES WITHIN REACH

Cures Within Reach is the only disease agnostic philanthropic organization exclusively committed to Repurposing Research as a fast-track to saving patient lives.

Cures Within Reach medical research projects have generated 12 repurposing treatments making an impact in the following diseases through off-label use in clinical practice or through a commercialization track: autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome, familial dysautonomia, Types 1 and 2 diabetes, lung cancer, multiple sclerosis, prostate cancer, myelodysplastic syndrome, and 4 additional pediatric auto-immune diseases.

Cures will use CureAccelerator and other initiatives to develop new financial engines to underwrite the repurposing research that can deliver effective repurposed treatments to patients. Visit us at www.cureswithinreach.org or follow us via Twitter.com/CuresWReach, LinkedIn.com/company/cures-within-reach, YouTube.com/cureswithinreach or Facebook.com/P4Cures

Media Contact
Cures Within Reach
***@cureswithinreach.org
8477451246

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