Full-service contract research organisation (CRO) Worldwide Clinical Trials has partnered with Every Cure to expedite the discovery of treatments for patients with rare diseases.
Worldwide will serve as a drug development and clinical trial partner to Every Cure, a non-profit organisation that aims to ‘unlock the full potential of existing medicines to treat every disease possible’.
The company will make use of its clinical development and rare disease expertise to identify links between rare diseases and generic drugs.
To this end, Every Cure will provide its comprehensive, open-source database of drug-repurposing opportunities.
After identifying and validating links and drug targets, Worldwide will run clinical trials for Every Cure with expedited timelines.
Worldwide executive director and rare diseases therapeutic strategy lead Derek Ansel said: “Despite tremendous advancements in health care and clinical research, only 5% of rare diseases have an FDA-approved medication.
“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.
“David (Fajgenbaum) and his team have been an inspiration to so many who live with rare diseases, and we are excited to kick off this partnership to help more patients around the world.”
Every Cure was launched last year in partnership with the Clinton Global Initiative to expand a new ‘drug-repurposing’ approach for identifying rare disease therapies.
Every Cure co-founder David Fajgenbaum said: “We are so excited to be partnering with a like-minded patient-driven company such as Worldwide Clinical Trials.
“The combination of Every Cure’s computational AI algorithm with Worldwide’s clinical trial expertise will have a substantial impact on finding and advancing cures for years to come.”
Based in North Carolina, Worldwide Clinical Trials partners with biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies to help advance new medications.
Last year, the company began working with medical genetics company Invitae to expedite clinical trials for rare disease patients.