Cures Within Reach Names Three Recipients of the 2019 Global Health Repurposing Awards

CHICAGO - Feb. 19, 2019 - PRLog -- Cures Within Reach, a global nonprofit leading the use of repurposing research as a fast track to improving patients' lives, today announced the 2019 Global Health Repurposing Awardees:

• The Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) is the recipient of the 2019 Golan Christie Taglia Patient Impact Philanthropy Award

• Denise Faustman, MD, PhD of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School is the recipient of the 2019 Janet Davison Rowley Patient Impact Research Award

• Jazz Pharmaceuticals is the recipient of the 2019 Patient Impact Industry Award

Repurposing research clinically tests approved drugs, devices and nutraceuticals to find new treatments for unsolved diseases.

Cures Within Reach will honor ADDF, Dr. Faustman and Jazz Pharmaceuticals for their outstanding achievements in creating impact for patients by repurposing existing science and medicine at Global Health Repurposing Awards (GHRA) events to be scheduled at various times and cities across the US throughout 2019.

"We are excited to have three exceptional awardees for 2019, including two that we have partnered with to drive repurposed therapies to patients.  Cures Within Reach has supported Dr. Faustman's groundbreaking work repurposing a generic tuberculosis vaccine in Type 1 diabetes for over a decade, including her ongoing Phase II study, and are thrilled with her recently published long-term results of the Phase I study," said Dr. Bruce Bloom, CEO of Cures Within Reach.  "We are honored to have partnered with ADDF on our joint repurposing research project in Alzheimer's disease.  ADDF is a leader in cutting edge therapy discovery by advancing repurposing research."

"As a member of Jazz Pharmaceuticals' Board of Directors, I know first-hand how deeply the company cares about improving patient lives. VYXEOS is an advanced liposomal formulation that delivers two established chemotherapeutic agents to the bone marrow in an innovative way that is designed to enhance the therapeutic benefits for patients in need," said Norbert Riedel, PhD, President & CEO of Aptinyx and the 2014 recipient of the Patient Impact Industry Award. "We expect VYXEOS to be an important treatment for adult patients with certain types of newly diagnosed secondary AML who historically have not had many treatment options. Receiving the 2019 Patient Impact Industry Award from Cures Within Reach is superb recognition for Jazz."

The Golan Christie Taglia Patient Impact Philanthropy Award recognizes an individual, group or organization that has created positive patient impact by advocating for patients or contributing to the growth of repurposing research through financial, operational or professional philanthropic support. The award was named in honor of its first awardee, Chicago law firm Golan Christie Taglia LLP, in gratitude for its many years of financial and in-kind support for Cures Within Reach.

The Janet Davison Rowley Patient Impact Research Award recognizes researchers and clinicians who have successfully repurposed a drug, device or nutraceutical for human clinical use, published their repurposed treatment results in the clinical or scientific literature and provided patients with increased quality of life through the repurposed treatment developed. The award is named in recognition of the impact that Dr. Janet Davison Rowley (1925-2013) had on patients through her clinical care and medical research, and because her pioneering discoveries that genetic alterations create diseases serve as the foundation of many repurposing opportunities.

The Cures Within Reach Patient Impact Industry Award is given to an industry leader who has made positive patient impact by contributing to the growth and profile of repurposing research within the healthcare industry, through financial, operational and/or collaborative support.

For more information about attending any of the 2019 GHRA events to hear inspiring stories, honor all awardees and support the Cures Within Reach mission, visit https://cureswithinreach.org/ghra2019

About Cures Within Reach

Cures Within Reach (CWR, https://cureswithinreach.org) is a US-based global philanthropic leader that improves patient quality and length of life by leveraging the speed, safety and cost-effectiveness of medical repurposing research, driving more treatments to more patients more quickly. CWR catalyzes research to facilitate and validate repurposing opportunities that create clinical impact, and enables and facilitates conversation and action among stakeholders that help transform healthcare through repurposing opportunities. Through repurposing, CWR drives both market impact and health savings to patients and patient groups, from academia/researchers, with payers and the healthcare industry and with support from the government, philanthropy and others. CWR's repurposing research projects have generated "new" treatments in over a dozen indications, making patient impact through off-label use in clinical practice or through a commercialization track.

In 2018 alone, CWR began 10 new clinical repurposing research projects.  CWR currently has a global portfolio of over 20 repurposing research projects at 17 institutions in 18 diseases. There are also more than 180 repurposing research projects available for funding in a wide range of diseases on its CureAccelerator^® site. Follow CWR via Twitter @CuresWReach, LinkedIn (LinkedIn.com/company/cures-within-reach), YouTube (YouTube.com/cureswithinreach) or Facebook (Facebook.com/CuresWithinReach).