Rare Repurposing Open Call | Findacure

Rare Repurposing Open Call | Findacure

Rare Repurposing Open Call

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The rare repurposing open call is a collaborative project between Findacure, Cures Within Reach, and Healx. We are searching for existing drug repurposing ideas for rare diseases that have yet to receive a full clinical trial. Our primary aim is to demonstrate the huge potential of clinic-led, patient group-led, and researcher-driven innovation in drug repurposing for rare diseases, and the need for new funding streams to help these ideas bridge the translational gap, including Findacure’s Rare Disease Drug Repurposing Social impact Bond (RDDR SIB).

We are looking for people around the world to share their repurposing ideas for rare diseases, with the aim of advancing the best of these projects, either through support, or the identification of funding opportunities.

Ideal projects will fit into the RDDR SIB and:

• Target a rare disease with no effective existing treatment.
• Have a candidate generic drug, device or nutraceutical for repurposing supported by multiple pre-clinical studies.
• Have some in-human case studies.
• Have a potentially disease-modifying effect, which has significant patient benefit.
• Have the potential to dramatically reduce healthcare spend on treated patients, and able to show evidence of the current high healthcare cost for this patient cohort.
• Have connections with a rare disease patient group (an organisation or charity representing the opinions, rights, and treatment needs of a rare disease patient population).
• Have some form of collaborator in the UK.
• Be able to launch a clinical trial in early 2018.
• Have ready access to a patient population.

This call is not just aiming to identify some suitable projects for the Findacure RDDR SIB project. We are also keen to demonstrate to health care providers, research funders, and the rare disease community that there are a significant number of plausible rare disease repurposing projects held by the research and healthcare professions, and that these are struggling to secure conventional funding. We welcome all applications to further this aim, with lead researchers having the option to open up their projects to other CureAccelerator funders, or submit ideas with commercial potential.

We will be holding two webinars for those who would like to find out more about drug repurposing and the open call:

• ‘Progressing your repurposing project’ – Aimed at those with repurposing ideas who aren’t sure of the next steps. Includes details on submitting projects to the open call. Wednesday 29th March, 3:00-4:30pm BST.
• ‘Identifying repurposing opportunities’ – Aimed at those who are new to repurposing and unsure of how to identify opportunities. Wednesday 5th April, 11:00-12:30pm BST.

To submit your repurposing projects, sign up for CureAcceleratorTM and search for the Rare Repurposing Open Call. Submissions are due by the 31st May.

For more information, please contact Findacure’s Head of Research, Dr Rick Thompson, on rick@findacure.org.uk

Please spread the word about this project to your colleagues and friends. Our video can be shared from this YouTube page. Help us encourage researchers, clinicians, regulators, and policy makers to view repurposing as a crucial route to deliver much-needed new treatments to rare disease patients.