Five clinical trials impacting blood cancers approved for funding

CHICAGO - Aug. 8, 2023 - PRLog -- Cures Within Reach, a global nonprofit that identifies and funds clinical trials testing approved therapies for new uses, recently selected five clinical trials to impact blood cancers. Three are already ongoing and two more will be starting soon. This brings Cures Within Reach's oncology portfolio to 21 clinical trials: 11 ongoing trials, 7 recently completed and 3 selected/starting soon.

Five oncology clinical trials involving childhood and adult acute myeloid leukemia, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, myelodysplastic syndrome, relapsed lymphoma and myelofibrosis were selected in 2022 and 2023 as part of Cures Within Reach's Oncology and Rare Disease efforts. If these clinical trials are successful, these proof-of-concept trials could provide critical data for larger confirmatory studies or for future off-label clinical use.

Cures Within Reach pooled funds from the Goldman Philanthropic Partnerships, Leukemia Research Foundation and individual donors to fund these five clinical trials. This customized approach allows donors the ability to support a disease area (i.e. blood cancer), patient population (i.e. pediatrics) or geographic region, as well as the flexibility and control over their involvement during the selection process.

"We are proud to partner with Cures Within Reach on their blood cancer drug repurposing clinical trials, including a pediatric study focusing on acute myeloid leukemia (AML)," said Kevin Radelet, Executive Director of Leukemia Research Foundation.  "This collaboration allows the opportunity to fast-track clinical testing for already approved drugs, which have the potential to produce better outcomes for children with AML."

"Our family foundation, Goldman Philanthropic Partnerships, was established to fund medical research that traditional funding sources overlooked, including for younger researchers, for rare disease and for drug repurposing, and Cures Within Reach has been a critical part of our mission since its inception in 2005," said Nanci Soriano of Goldman Philanthropic Partnerships. "Our family knows intimately the effects of blood cancer on patients and families, and we are thrilled to provide some of the funding for these five new blood cancer clinical trials."

"Cures Within Reach is pleased to support these low-risk, high-reward efforts to impact blood cancer patients and their families," said Barbara Goodman, President & CEO of Cures Within Reach. "We are playing a pivotal role in finding new treatments for unsolved diseases by providing funding for the first-in-human clinical trials required to reach more patients."

Respected research institutions across the U.S. have started or will start these 5 clinical trials:

1. Combining approved drugs for alcoholism and cancer to treat diffuse large B-cell lymphoma at Emory University led by Jason Romancik, MD (public information here). This open-label, pilot study will test the safety and efficacy of combining disulfiram, used to treat chronic alcoholism, with pembrolizumab, used to treat a variety of cancers, in patients with relapsed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.
2. Investigating the effects of a rare disease drug in treating acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome patients who have relapsed following stem cell transplants at University of Pittsburgh led by Sawa Ito, MD, PhD (public information here). This is an expansion of a Phase 1 pilot trial enrolling AML and myelodysplastic syndrome patients who have relapsed following stem cell transplantation and have a poor prognosis. Patients will be treated with donor lymphocyte infusions and interferon-gamma, approved for chronic granulomatous disease and malignant osteopetrosis, to confirm and strengthen existing data on safety and efficacy of this repurposed treatment.
3. Adding Metal Detoxification Drugs to Improve Childhood Acute Myeloid Leukemia Outcomes at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center led by Maro Ohanian, DO (public information here). This project will expand an ongoing adult clinical trial to include pediatric AML patients. Pediatric AML patients will be treated with metal detoxification drugs in combination with standard chemotherapy with the goal of improving patient outcomes.
4. Treating Anemia in Myelofibrosis with Nelfinavir at Brigham Young University led by Richard Watt, PhD (starting soon). Myelofibrosis patients are often anemic as iron is not delivered to the bone marrow to make more red blood cells. In addition, these patients often have chronic inflammation, measured by high hepcidin. This Phase IIA pilot trial will add nelfinavir, approved to treat HIV patients, to lower hepcidin and restore iron delivery to the bone marrow allowing for improved red blood cell synthesis. The goal: a treatment that will alleviate the anemia present in myelofibrosis.
5. Reducing CAR T-cell therapy complications in relapsed lymphoma patients by adding natalizumab at University of Michigan led by Monalisa Ghosh, MD (starting soon). This pilot study will evaluate whether natalizumab, approved for multiple sclerosis, can reduce complications from chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy and can prevent severe inflammation issues in the brain after CAR T-cell therapy, and validate its safety in patients with relapsed lymphoma.

About Cures Within Reach
Cures Within Reach (CWR) is a US-based nonprofit leader leveraging the speed, safety and cost-effectiveness of testing already approved therapies for new indications that improve patient quality and length of life, driving more treatments to more patients more quickly. CWR provides seed funds for first in-human or pivotal studies that, when successful, allow a catalytic effect of additional follow-on trials and follow-on funding to build evidence for publication, to allow clinicians to make their own decisions with their patients (called off-label use) or for regulatory approval by the FDA or other agencies. CWR's 2023 initiatives include focused efforts to impact Diversity, Equity & Inclusion; Veterans; and Pediatrics. CWR currently has a global portfolio of 41 funded trials at 34 institutions in 29 diseases in 8 countries. Visit cureswithinreach.org.