We are delighted to announce the establishment of a close partnership with Healx to accelerate our drug repurposing for rare diseases project. Drug repurposing matches existing off-patent drugs to other specific diseases, which is much cheaper and faster than novel drug discovery. Currently, only 6% of the 7,000 known rare diseases have a licensed treatment due to the expensive nature of conventional drug discovery. Drug repurposing is therefore an ideal way to find treatments in the rare diseases sector, and has a proven track record of success.
Healx is a Cambridge-based start-up which uses advanced data analytics and computational biology techniques to identify drug repurposing opportunities for rare diseases. Their technology platform generates drug matching predictions with a much higher probability of success. They have generously agreed to fund Findacure’s project and apply their drug matching technology. By doing so, they will enable patient groups and researchers to access the latest drug matching technologies and drug repurposing expertise. By combining our strengths and networks, we hope our partnership will accelerate the drug repurposing project’s progress, delivering affordable treatments to rare disease patients.
“We’re really excited to have Healx on board with our drug repurposing project” said our Head of Research, Dr Rick Thompson. “Both Findacure and Healx share a common vision of bringing patients into the heart of research and delivering affordable treatments to unserved rare disease patients so they can live higher quality and longer lives.”
“Healx’s mission is to improve the quality of life of rare disease patients by intelligently matching drug treatments. We are incredibly excited about working with Findacure on this ambitious project and making our technology platform available to help identify new treatments for rare diseases”, said Dr Tim Guilliams, Chief Executive of Healx.
The next step for our partnership is working together on the Rare Repurposing Open Call. Watch this space for our progression and achievements!