Finalists Announced for CureAccelerator Live! for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Competition
illi News/10191804

CHICAGO - illiNews -- Cures Within Reach, a leading global nonprofit focused on repurposing research as a fast track to impacting patients, is holding CureAccelerator Live! for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI), its unique philanthropic pitch competition, virtually on October 6, 2022. The event this year is being held in collaboration with DIA and its Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Across Life Sciences R&D Meeting on October 6 – 7, 2022.

Researchers and clinicians from 4 institutions across the US will present their clinical repurposing research trials to community members representing industry, research, medicine, philanthropy and patient groups. The winning trial will be selected by attendees to receive a grant that supports a $70,000 clinical trial.

The 4 finalists presenting their clinical trials are:

• Edilberto Amorim, MD of University of California, San Francisco: Testing the epilepsy drug perampanel to prevent seizures after cardiac arrest
• Yohannes Ghebre, PhD of Baylor College of Medicine: A new use of the antacid drug esomeprazole to treat morphea, a chronic connective tissue disease
• Sheldon Holder, MD, PhD of Brown University: Repurposing the prostate cancer drug degarelix to treat bladder cancer
• Natasha Shur, MD of Children's National Research Institute: Using steroids to improve outcomes in rhabdomyolysis in pediatric patients

"Cures Within Reach began our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts in 2019, and since then we have approved funding for 17 clinical repurposing trials impacting underrepresented patients and researchers," said Clare Thibodeaux, PhD, Vice President, Scientific Affairs at Cures Within Reach. "All of the projects featured at CureAccelerator Live! for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion have the potential to improve outcomes for patients with unmet medical needs and to strengthen our DEI community. We are thrilled to showcase these finalists on October 6 to shine a light on how repurposing can help advance DEI in medical research."

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DIA is excited to partner with Cures Within Reach in October on our shared interest in expanding clinical trials for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. "Our 2-day meeting, Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Across Life Sciences R&D Meeting, will lead the way in sharing knowledge and fostering coalitions to build greater diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in the life sciences R&D field," said Tamei Elliott, Senior Manager of Scientific Programs for DIA and Chair of the meeting. "Providing our attendees with the opportunity to participate in and vote on funding of DEI-focused clinical trials through the CureAccelerator Live! event will drive home the tangible difference that each one of us can make."

DIA (Drug Information Association) is a global, member-driven organization mobilizing life sciences and health care professionals. All attendees of DIA's meeting can attend Cures Within Reach's CureAccelerator Live! event. For more information, agenda and registration, visit https://www.diaglobal.org/en/conference-listing... - showcontent (https://www.diaglobal.org/en/conference-listing/meetings/2022/10/advancing-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-across-life-sciences-r-d-meeting#showcontent). More information on the competition finalists and to register just to join CureAccelerator Live! for DEI is at: https://bit.ly/cwrcal22.

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Funding for Cures Within Reach's DEI efforts, including clinical trials to impact health disparities and/or led by racial/ethnic minority researchers, comes from its philanthropic and industry partners: Takeda Pharmaceuticals' Center for Health Equity, Searle Funds at The Chicago Community Trust, Adtalem Global Education Foundation, Burroughs Wellcome Fund, Horizon Therapeutics, Walder Foundation and others.

About Cures Within Reach
Cures Within Reach (CWR) is a US-based philanthropic leader leveraging the speed, safety and cost-effectiveness of testing approved treatments for new indications to improve patient quality and length of life: driving more treatments to more patients more quickly. CWR focuses on first-in-human or proof-of-concept clinical repurposing trials that catalyze the follow-on funding needed to continue the research – providing seed funds and building evidence for publication and follow-on trials allowing clinicians to make their own decisions with their patients (called off-label use), or for regulatory approval by the FDA or other agencies. CWR's 2022 initiatives include Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, impacting Veterans' Issues and Pediatrics, as well as several disease-specific efforts. CWR currently has a global portfolio of 39 ongoing trials at 32 institutions in 29 diseases in 8 countries. Visit cureswithinreach.org (http://www.cureswithinreach.org/).