Press Release: Finalists Announced for CureAccelerator Live! for Rare Diseases 2020 Competition

Adult, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Clinical Trials, Dr. Fleischman, Dr. Park, Dr. Phillips, Dr. Seif, Drug, Mid-Atlantic, Oncology, Pediatric, Rare Disease, Stanford University, University of California Davis, University of California Irvine, University of Michigan

Finalists Announced for CureAccelerator Live! for Rare Diseases 2020 Competition

Virtual Pitch Event on June 11 Features 5 Clinical Repurposing Projects

April 21, 2020

Cures Within Reach, a leading global nonprofit focused on repurposing research as a fast track to impacting patients, is holding CureAccelerator Live! for Rare Diseases, its unique philanthropic pitch competition, virtually on June 11, 2020. The event is being held in partnership with Global Genes, who is working with UPenn Medicine Orphan Disease Center on the 2020 RARE Drug Development Symposium on June 11 – 12, 2020. More info on this event is at https://globalgenes.org/event/advocacysymposium/.

Researchers and clinicians from 5 institutions from across the US will present their clinical repurposing research projects to community members representing pharma, biotech, academia, medicine, philanthropy and patient groups. The winning project will be selected by attendees to receive up to $50,000 in funding.

The 5 finalists invited to present their clinical trial projects are:

  • Angela Fleischman, MD, PhD from University of California, Irvine presenting “Repurposing a Nutraceutical in Myeloproliferative Neoplasms to Improve Disease Markers and Symptoms”
  • Susanna Park, MD, PhD from University of California, Davis presenting “Bone Marrow Stem Cell Therapy for Vision Loss”
  • Tycel Phillips, MD from University of Michigan presenting “Repurposing Venetoclax to Improve Patient Response in Mantle Cell Lymphoma”
  • Kathleen Sakamoto, MD, PhD from Stanford University presenting “Niclosamide for the Treatment of Pediatric Acute Myeloid Leukemia”
  • Alix Seif, MD, MPH from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia presenting “Preventing Relapse After Bone Marrow Transplant in a Rare Pediatric Leukemia with a Combination Treatment”

“With the dozens of ongoing clinical trials testing repurposed drugs as possible treatments for COVID19 patients, it is clear that repurposing research is an important strategy to fast-track treatments to patients,” said Clare Thibodeaux, PhD, Director of Scientific Affairs at Cures Within Reach. “This comes as no surprise to the rare disease community, where existing science and medicine has been leveraged for years to address unmet medical needs. Our 5 finalists are dedicated to helping rare disease patients through clinical repurposing trials, and we are proud to showcase their innovative ideas on June 11.”

Registration for the virtual RARE Drug Development Symposium will open in late April. For more information, agenda and registration, visit: https://globalgenes.org/event/advocacy-symposium/. For more information on these finalists and the CureAccelerator Live! for Rare Disease competition, visit https://bit.ly/cwrcalrare2020.

Funding for the winning rare diseases project is supported by the Goldman Philanthropic Partnerships; additional support for the 2020 CureAccelerator Live! for Rare Diseases event is from industry partners Horizon Therapeutics and Recordati Rare Diseases, as well as from the Judy Hirsch Foundation.

The 2020 CureAccelerator Live! for Rare Diseases event will be 6 the time holding this philanthropic pitch competition. In addition to Rare Diseases, past event themes have included Oncology, Chicago, the Mid-Atlantic and the Developing World. Information on the previous winning clinical repurposing projects are at: www.cureswithinreach.org/research/current-research.

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