Cures Within Reach Names Two Recipients of its 2021 Patient Impact Awards

CHICAGO - March 23, 2021 - PRLog -- Cures Within Reach, a global nonprofit leading the use of repurposing research to help improve patients' lives, today announced two of its three 2021 Patient Impact Award recipients of the Global Health Repurposing Awards. Clinical repurposing research tests approved drugs, devices and nutraceuticals in hopes of eventually finding new therapies for difficult-to-treat diseases.

• ReFRAME at Scripps Research/Calibr is the recipient of the 2021 Janet Davison Rowley Patient Impact Research Award
• CURE ID at the FDA and NCATS/NIH is the recipient of the 2021 Golan Christie Taglia Patient Impact Philanthropy Award

Cures Within Reach (CWR) will recognize ReFRAME and CURE ID for their outstanding achievements in creating impact for patients by repurposing existing science and medicine for COVID-19 and in other indications at patient education events to be scheduled during 2021.  The 2021 Patient Impact Industry Award will be named soon.

CWR celebrates and honors:

• ReFRAME at Calibr, Scripps Research's drug discovery division, and the impact that its screening database is having on patients with neglected diseases as well as finding potential COVID-19 treatments. We celebrate Calibr's commitment to the database's ease of accessibility and the collaboration made possible through this technology, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since ReFRAME's launch, repurposed drugs such as clofazimine in cryptosporidiosis and auranofin in TB are impacting patients in clinical trials.
• CURE ID, a tool that allows clinicians and researchers to share repurposing case reports as a means to identify drugs for further study in clinical trials. We celebrate the development and launch of CURE ID for infectious diseases and soon for other diseases as well. We especially recognize the enhancements the FDA and NCATS/NIH made to CURE ID to help assist in the COVID-19 response. CURE ID is an example of the government's critical role in the repurposing ecosystem and the FDA and NIH's long-time commitment to enhancing drug development for difficult-to-treat diseases.

"Drug repurposing offers great potential for finding much-needed therapies more quickly and cost-effectively to address unmet medical needs globally," says Peter Schultz, president and CEO of Scripps Research and Calibr, "and we are honored to be recognized by Cures Within Reach for our work in this critical area of research."

"I am honored to accept this award on behalf of CURE ID from Cures Within Reach, a leader in the effort to bring more repurposed therapies to patients in need," said Heather Stone, MPH, FDA health science policy analyst in the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research's Office of Medical Policy. "This recognition shows the power of CURE ID to identify and evaluate drugs for additional clinical study and, eventually, potential approvals for new uses. As CURE ID expands and evolves, I am confident it can continue to be an important resource in our fight against COVID-19 and other diseases lacking adequate approved therapies for patients."

The Janet Davison Rowley Patient Impact Research 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 Golan Christie Taglia Patient Impact Philanthropy Award is 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 CWR.

For more information on these awardees, upcoming events and CWR, visit http://bit.ly/cwrghra2021.

About Cures Within Reach
Cures Within Reach is a US-based philanthropic leader improving 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 already approved therapies for new indications to create clinical impact. CWR isn't funding to the regulatory "finish line," but providing seed funds to achieve catalytic effect.  CWR's 2021 initiatives include focused efforts to impact Pediatrics; Veterans; and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion efforts.  CWR currently has a global portfolio of 32 repurposing research projects at 27 institutions in 20 diseases. Visit www.cureswithinreach.org.