Research FAQ

Repurposing research tests already approved and readily available drugs, devices, nutraceuticals and diagnostics to determine if they are safe and effective in treating a different indication, thereby improving patient outcomes and quality of life. Although repurposed therapies do not need to be FDA approved, they must be deemed safe and approved for human use by some regulatory body, such as the European Medicines Agency, Health Canada or Japan’s Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency.

Repurposing research may also:

• Test combination therapies in order to increase efficacy, including combining the current disease treatment with a repurposed treatment
• Modify current treatment protocols to make them more effective, helping more patients for longer periods of time
• Repurpose therapies approved for use in adults into pediatric indications

Read more about drug repurposing.

Cures Within Reach is a disease-agnostic organization. We fund repurposing research in any unsolved disease. An unsolved disease is one in which one or more of the following are true:

• There is currently no effective treatment
• The current treatment is only effective for a portion of the patient population
• There is a treatment that is effective, but many patients develop resistance to the therapy
• There is a treatment that is effective for the entire patient population, but the treatment is very expensive, and therefore some patients cannot get access to the treatment
• There is a treatment that is effective for the entire patient population with significant side effects, and for some patients the negative side effects outweigh the benefits of the treatment

View our currently funded projects

Cures Within Reach’s strongest preference is for proof of concept repurposing clinical trials supported by strong scientific evidence or clinical observations. These trials can be completed in 3 years or less and for less than $250,000. In some cases, we may also consider late stage preclinical projects that would lead directly to repurposing clinical trials. View our currently funded projects and funding opportunities.

Current and previous Cures Within Reach funding opportunities can be viewed at this link.

To sign up for Cures Within Reach funding announcements and our newsletter, contact us at admin@cureswithinreach.org 

Cures Within Reach still wants to hear about your repurposing research idea! Researchers and clinicians are encouraged to submit their projects on ProposalCentral, even in the absence of an open funding opportunity. These projects become part of our pipeline, and we will notify PIs when an appropriate funding opportunity is available. We also use the projects in our pipeline to generate interest in and excitement for repurposing research among our donors and philanthropic partners.

Proposals must be submitted on ProposalCentral, our online grants management system. If you’re already a ProposalCentral user, log into our new site from the top right corner. If you don’t have a ProposalCentral login, create a login here.

Cures Within Reach has a two-step funding process. Step 1 is completion of a Letter of Intent (LOI) on Proposal Central, which includes information about the proposed treatment, research aims and plan, funding amount, disease background and other topics. LOIs should include only enough details to allow reviewers to understand the background / support for the proposed project, the experimental plan, the potential patient impact and any community engagement ideas. Full scientific details are generally not required at this time.

Step 2 occurs after an LOI review process involving Cures Within Reach staff, our volunteer Grant Review Committee (representing research, industry, clinicians and the patient/community voice) and/or our Science Advisory Board members. For most funding opportunities, CWR will invite the top scoring LOIs to submit a proposal on Proposal Central. Proposals include full scientific details for the project and are reviewed, scored and ranked by Cures Within Reach staff, the Grant Review Committee and our SAB before funding decisions are made. If an LOI is in response to a CureAccelerator Live! funding opportunity, Step 2 is a 7-minute live or recorded pitch at the CureAccelerator Live! event and a limited Proposal submission on Proposal Central.

Reviewer feedback is provided to applicants at both stages and regardless of go / no go decisions.

For most funding opportunity Requests for Proposals (RFPs), Cures Within Reach will provide 80% of the total funding amount submitted and the research institution sponsoring the researcher, and the proposed research project / institution will match at least 20% of the total funding amount. For example, if the total funding amount is $75,000, Cures Within Reach will provide 80% or $60,000 and the research institution will provide 20% or $15,000. Submitting an LOI does not commit the PI or the research institution to the 20% match. If a submission is selected to move beyond the LOI stage, we will contact the PI / the PI’s institution about this requirement.

Cures Within Reach occasionally waives this match requirement – for example, the 20% match is waived for our ReGRoW initiative to build capacity for clinical trials in low and lower-middle income countries (LMICs).

The total funding amount submitted to Cures Within Reach must be sole, late or final funding required to accomplish the specific aims listed in the LOI. Our funding cannot be the first funding raised for a project unless it is also the sole funding needed. The 20% institutional match is not counted as additional funds to be raised.

Project budgets can range from $25,000 to $250,000 with no more than 10% of the budget allocated for direct administrative costs. Our typical award is in the $50,000 to $100,000 range. Cures Within Reach does not fund indirect or overhead costs. Contact us with any budget questions: research@cureswithinreach.org.

If you would like to link a project previous submitted on CureAccelerator to an open funding opportunity RFP on ProposalCentral, please contact Clare Thibodeaux, PhD at clare@cureswithinreach.org.

LOI submissions to Cures Within Reach are scored on a number of factors:

• Innovation in the repurposing arena
• Feasibility of the research plan/idea
• Relevancy to the disease and/or patient population
• Investigator and environment
• Potential clinical impact (speed, cost, safety, effectiveness)
• Return on investment (how much bang will each research buck bring?)

Full grant proposal submissions are scored on the above factors, plus:

• Scientific/clinical support for the research
• Scientific merit and design of the research

Cures Within Reach will contact you with instructions. PIs have approximately 3-4 weeks to submit a full grant, and funding decisions are made approximately 8-10 weeks following the submission deadline.

Cures Within Reach is looking for interested repurposing research stakeholders – including members of academia and other nonprofit research institutions, industry, clinicians, government, disease-specific nonprofits and patient advocacy groups – to join our volunteer Grant Review Committee. Read more about the Grant Review Committee.

For questions regarding repurposing research, contact Clare Thibodeaux, PhD at clare@cureswithinreach.org