2017 Global Health Repurposing Awards Honors Leaders in Rare Diseases

SKOKIE, Ill. - July 12, 2017 - PRLog -- Cures Within Reach, the leading global nonprofit organization focused on repurposing research as a fast track to saving patient lives, hosted its 5th Annual Global Health Repurposing Awards (GHRA) on June 27, 2017 at the Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel in Chicago, IL.

Over 300 guests registered to attend this unique event, bringing together stakeholders from business, science, medicine, philanthropy, patient advocacy and media, who share a commitment to delivering treatments to patients quickly and affordably through repurposing. Chicago's ABC 7 Eyewitness News reporter and anchor Judy Hsu sevred as guest emcee for the evening. Prior to the event, Judy reported on a Cures Within Reach funded repurposing research project at the University of Illinois at Chicago that is helping patients suffering from chronic limb ischemia. (Link to the video at the bottom of this article.)

More than $185,000 was raised to support the mission and programs of Cures Within Reach. The money was raised through a combination of sponsorships, event ticket purchases, a live auction and a paddle raise. This year, the GHRA had a record number of sponsorships. Since most repurposing treatments cost less than $250,000 to fund, the sponsors' participation in the GHRA can have a major impact on saving patients' lives.

"We are honored to have such strong sponsor support this year," said Dr. Bruce Bloom, President and Chief Science Officer at Cures Within Reach. "These partnerships allow us to celebrate our awardees and to continue our important work of advancing repurposing research as a way to drive treatments to patients who desperately need them."

The 2017 GHRA sponsors include: Horizon Pharma plc (Premier Sponsor); Takeda Pharmaceuticals (Platinum Sponsor); American Landmark Properties, Goldman Philanthropic Partnerships, Integrated DNA Technologies, the Kahlert Foundation, Mindset Foundation (Legacy Sponsors); The Lockwood Group, Pep Marketing, PwC (Gold Sponsors); CBRE, Grund & Leavitt, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Tonic Blue Communications, Vision for Tomorrow Foundation, Wilson Dow Group (Silver Sponsors); Aptinyx, Inc., Golan Christie Taglia, Healthcare Businesswomen's Association, the Judy Hirsch Foundation, Northwestern Mutual, TerSera Therapeutics LLC (Bronze Sponsors); Baxter Credit Union, BriovaRx, Cambridge BioMarketing, First Bank of Highland Park, PhRMA, Regis Technologies, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Zogenix, Inc. (Friend Sponsors).

The 2017 GHRA had a rare disease focus in order to commemorate Cures Within Reach's first repurposing success, which found that the drug sirolimus created a life-saving treatment for a rare disease called autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome. Awards were given to leaders in business, science, medicine and philanthropy who have made a difference in patient lives through repurposing research that finds new uses for existing drugs, devices and nutraceuticals. This year's awardees were:

• Timothy P. Walbert, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Horizon Pharma plc for Horizon's commitment to rare disease patients

• Berish Rubin, PhD and Sylvia Anderson, PhD, Head and Director, Laboratory for Familial Dysautonomia Research, Fordham University for their work in repurposing nutriceuticals to treat Familial Dysautonomia

• Dr. Michael Tranfaglia, Medical Director and Co-Founder of FRAXA Research Foundation for FRAXA's philanthropic investment in repurposing research to find a cure for fragile X syndrome

• Dr. Lieven Lagae, Director of the Childhood Epilepsy Program at the KUL University Hospitals for his work in repurposing fenfluramine to treat Dravet syndrome

The 2018 Global Health Repurposing Awards will be held on June 26, 2018 and will have a cancer focus. To learn more about the work of Cures Within Reach, visit www.cureswithinreach.org.

Chicago's ABC 7 Eyewitness News story on Cures Within Reach funded repurposing research project at the University of Illinois at Chicago: http://abc7chicago.com/health/medical-treatment-repurpose...


ABOUT CURES WITHIN REACH

Cures Within Reach works to catalyze repurposing research to quickly and affordably improve patient lives. We accomplish this by connecting funders with researchers to jumpstart repurposing research clinical trials, by providing collaboration tools so repurposing stakeholders can work together more easily, and by pioneering alternative finance engines and incentives for repurposing research. Cures Within Reach's repurposing research projects have generated over a dozen "new" treatments making patient impact through off-label use in clinical practice or through a commercialization track. Cures Within Reach currently has 24 repurposing research projects either funded or approved for funding.

ABOUT CUREACCELERATOR™

Cures Within Reach built CureAccelerator to provide a global collaboration space and marketplace for repurposing research that can deliver effective solutions to unsolved diseases. The CureAccelerator platform was built with a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, to provide a platform in which drugs, devices and nutriceuticals approved for one or more human diseases can be repurposed to create "new" treatments in other diseases. CureAccelerator has over 1,000 users who have proposed 120 projects, of which more than 20 have received funding and are moving towards patient impact.

Visit us at www.cureswithinreach.org or follow us via Twitter @CuresWReach, LinkedIn.com/company/cures-within-reach, YouTube.com/cureswithinreach or Facebook.com/CuresWithinReach.