Worldwide Clinical Trials, a global CRO, inked a partnership deal with the nonprofit Every Cure to identify links between rare diseases and generic drugs currently on the market.
The focus of the collaboration is to leverage Every Cure’s open-source database of drug-repurposing opportunities. When links and drug targets are identified and validated, Worldwide will operate clinical trials for Every Cure with expedited timelines and a goal to find existing medications to treat rare disease patients around the world, the two said in a May 11 press release.
Financial terms of the agreement weren’t disclosed.
Every Cure debuted in September 2022 in partnership with the Clinton Global Initiative to develop and scale up a “drug-repurposing” approach to identify treatments for rare diseases.
“Despite tremendous advancements in health care and clinical research, only five percent of rare diseases have an FDA-approved medication,” Derek Ansel, Worldwide’s executive director and therapeutic strategy lead for rare disease, said in the release. “Every Cure’s model is truly transformative and based on the concept that every drug on the market has multiple effects on the body—and cures can be found in unexpected places.”
Every Cure was co-founded by David Fajgenbaum, M.D., who was diagnosed with Castleman disease in 2010 while he was in medical school. The disorder involves benign tumors that form in lymph node tissue. Fajgenbaum identified an existing drug, sirolimus, that could be repurposed to treat Castleman.