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Newsweek
7 days ago
- Health
- Newsweek
AI Impact Awards 2025: Every Cure Aims to 'Teach Old Drugs New Tricks'
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Every Cure, a nonprofit working to reveal the untapped potential of existing medications, has emerged as the overall winner of Newsweek's inaugural AI Impact Awards. The AI Impact Awards evaluated AI solutions across several business sectors, including health care, mobility, workplace and education. Winners were celebrated for pursuing big ideas that generated significant impacts when put into practical use. A cross-industry panel of expert judges—including AI leaders from UMass Memorial Health, Bayer, Bezos Earth Fund and the U.S. Department of Defense—evaluated applicants, and voted Every Cure as the overwhelming favorite. The organization also took home the gold in the Best Outcomes, Materials Science and Chemistry category, earning accolades for its AI-powered approach to drug repurposing. AI Impact Winner: Every Cure AI Impact Winner: Every Cure Newsweek Illustration Every Cure was founded by Dr. David Fajgenbaum and Dr. Grant Mitchell in 2010, in response to a personal crisis. As a third-year medical student, Fajgenbaum was diagnosed with Castleman disease, a rare and deadly illness with no approved treatments. "We didn't have 10 years and a couple billion dollars to develop a new drug," Mitchell told Newsweek. The roommates' only hope was that they could "repurpose an existing drug, and that it might work for him," Mitchell added. Fortunately, the pair's research revealed that a decades-old kidney transplant drug, sirolimus, could treat Fajgenbaum's condition. That success sparked a realization. Thousands of lifesaving therapies may already exist, hidden in plain sight on pharmacy shelves. Today, Every Cure is working to systematically uncover and validate those hidden opportunities using artificial intelligence. Its proprietary platform, MATRIX (Therapeutic Repurposing in eXtended uses), was designed to assess and rank roughly 75 million drug-disease combinations, prioritizing high-potential therapies with speed and scale that would be unimaginable without AI. The AI model recommends the drug-disease combinations that are most likely to work biologically and reduce suffering for a significant number of people. Then, Every Cure can pursue that combination with a low-cost trial or study. "We let the data guide us towards the highest-impact opportunities," Mitchell said. In 2024, Every Cure began advancing more than eight promising repurposing projects. Among the most striking examples was its AI model's identification of adalimumab, a drug commonly used for autoimmune conditions, as another potential treatment for Castleman disease (the condition that inspired the company's founders). That prediction put a terminally ill patient into remission and was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Another success involved leucovorin (a derivative of folate), which helped restore speech in children with a subtype of autism by bypassing a biochemical blockade. "We had parents send in videos and tell stories of their kids who have never spoken or expressed their feelings before, [now] saying, 'Daddy, I love you,'" Mitchell said. "It's just been really awesome to see that kind of impact." Every Cure's platform doesn't stop at prediction. It also uses AI to evaluate and rank evidence from scientific literature and electronic health records—the systems that hospitals use to manage patient records—to support clinical trial planning. The company's team of more than 40 data scientists, engineers and MD/PhD medical experts also collaborates closely with patient advocacy groups, contract research organizations and tech partners like Google Cloud and Komodo Health. This cross-disciplinary model ensures that discoveries are not only scientifically sound, but aligned with patient needs and ready for real-world adoption. One of the nonprofit's most surprising findings? Many effective therapies are already backed by sufficient evidence. They simply lack visibility. In these cases, Mitchell said, no new clinical trial is necessary. Researchers just need to repackage the existing evidence and update clinical guidelines so that patients and physicians know the treatment is available. "We refer to low-hanging fruit all the time—this fruit is just sitting on the forest floor," Mitchell said. To guarantee safe and responsible dissemination, Every Cure developed tiered disclosure systems for researchers and the public. A public-facing web tool is slated for release in 2026, and will allow clinicians and advocates to explore the database of predictions. Every Cure's momentum is accelerating. The company is supported by a $48.3 million contract from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health and $60 million from the TED-backed Audacious Project. Its goals are also ambitious: to launch 15 to 25 validated repurposing projects by 2030, shift clinical guidelines, and offer new hope to patients who have long been overlooked by the pharmaceutical industry. With AI as its engine, Every Cure suggests that the future of medicine may lie in rediscovering what we already know—and using it far more wisely. "How many times did we walk past a local CVS and that pill was just sitting there while David [Fajgenbaum] was suffering and thousands of people were dying?" Mitchell said. "We became obsessed with this idea that the drugs that we have—that humanity has put so much effort into bringing to to market and helping patients with—are not fully utilized to treat every disease that they possibly can." To see the full list of winners and awards, visit the official page for Newsweek's AI Impact Awards. Newsweek will continue the conversation on meaningful AI innovations at our AI Impact Summit from June 23 to 25 in Sonoma, California. Click here for more information and to register for the event.
Newsweek
7 days ago
- Business
- Newsweek
AI Impact Awards 2025: Newsweek Celebrates AI Innovation
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Newsweek has announced the winners of its inaugural AI Impact Awards, recognizing 38 companies across 13 different categories. As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly more popular among everyday Americans, AI has laid its claim as the most transformative technology of the century. From health care to finance, from retail to education, AI is in the process of revolutionizing nearly every industry and sector. To celebrate strides in various areas, Newsweek is recognizing businesses that are using new capabilities to solve practical challenges. "AI is reshaping our world, and the organizations receiving this award are at the forefront of that transformation," Jennifer H. Cunningham, the editor-in-chief of Newsweek, said in a press release. "We are proud to spotlight the companies whose technologies and practices are pushing the boundaries of what AI can achieve—responsibly and effectively." About one in six American workers say that at least some of their work is currently done with AI and an additional one in four say that while they're not using AI much now, at least some of their work can be done with AI, according to an October poll conducted by Pew Research Center. This year, the AI Impact Awards were divided by specific sectors. Newsweek awarded five practitioners in the health care category and four in education. Three practitioners were recognized in each of the following categories: arts and media; brand and retail; science and engineering; finance; marketing; and workplace. The customer service and sustainability categories each had two companies recognized, and the mobility and sports categories each had one honoree. Under brand and retail, Perfect Corp. was recognized for its Skin Analysis tool, which earned them the 2025 award for Best Outcomes, Customer Experience. Wayne Liu, the chief growth officer at Perfect Corp., told Newsweek that winning this award was a particularly notable milestone for the company. "Not all awards are equal. This one is very different, and it also gives us all this sense of excitement," Liu said, adding, "Our technology, our effort has been seen." AI Impact Awards AI Impact Awards Newsweek Illustration To adjudicate this year's entries, Newsweek selected a cross-industry panel of 56 expert judges who work with AI technology in their respective fields. In addition to category winners, these judges also selected Every Cure as the overall Best in Class. Every Cure, a nonprofit aimed at identifying new uses for FDA-approved medications, received an additional award, in the Best Outcomes, Materials Science and Chemistry category. There were also five recipients in the Best of—Most Innovative AI Technology Service category. Among those honorees is Ex-Human, a digital platform that allows users to create customizable AI humans to interact with. This year, Ex-Human was awarded the Extraordinary Impact in AI Human Interactivity or Collaboration award. Artem Rodichev, the founder and CEO of Ex-Human, told Newsweek that the win "validates our vision that emotional depth matters." "Building AI is not about functional stuff, but how technology can make people feel better," Rodichev said. "Winning this award helps us to build trust, to attract new partners, and in general, to acknowledge that the emotional side of innovation is important." The winners of the 2025 AI Impact Awards were invited to attend Newsweek's upcoming AI Impact Summit. The three-day summit, which is being held in Sonoma, California, from June 23 through 25, brings together a diverse group of leaders. Tech innovators, C-suite executives, policymakers and ethicists will all join Newsweek in a series of thought-provoking conversations about how organizations can most effectively adopt AI. To see the full list of winners and awards, visit the official page for Newsweek's AI Impact Awards.
Newsweek
7 days ago
- Business
- Newsweek
Newsweek's AI Impact Awards 2025
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Artificial intelligence is no longer emerging—it's now a core driver of innovation across nearly every industry. It's reshaping how companies operate and redefining everyday life, from improved outcomes in health care to more personalized customer service. As its influence expands, so does the responsibility to use it ethically, effectively and with clear real-world impact. One in six U.S. workers already use AI in some capacity. An additional 25 percent say that while they aren't using AI much in their role right now, at least some of their work can be done using AI tools. As the use of AI increases, so will the number of companies providing these services. There are currently over 70,000 AI companies worldwide, and the industry is expected to experience exponential growth over the next six years. To celebrate companies leading the way, Newsweek is proud to present the inaugural AI Impact Awards 2025. These awards honor 38 organizations across 13 categories for their outstanding achievements in applying AI to solve complex challenges, improve operations and deliver meaningful outcomes. Whether in health care, education, finance or sustainability, these companies exemplify how AI, when deployed thoughtfully, can deliver both innovation and impact. This year's winners include companies advancing AI-powered health diagnostics, solutions for HR planning and management, as well as tools for education, sports broadcasting and weather tracking. The overall winner, Every Cure, was selected by a panel of cross-industry experts. The nonprofit stood out across all categories for its use of AI for drug repurposing. The 2025 AI Impact Award winners have also been invited to Newsweek's AI Impact Summit, a three-day event in Sonoma, California, from June 23 through 25, bringing together global leaders in technology, business and policy to explore how AI is shaping the future. Whether you're a business leader navigating AI adoption, a professional adapting to AI's growing role in daily work or if you're simply curious about what's next, this list highlights the organizations turning promise into performance and reshaping the world in the process. Award Winner Description Best Outcomes, Digital Media & Arts AI Arts & Media - AI is being used across industries to improve results across promotion, marketing, entertainment, journalism, from data results to automating writing by providing script and personalized recommendations. Winner: Interdependence Best Outcomes, Visual Media & Arts AI Arts & Media - AI goes beyond simply generating images, creating interactive art and exploring issues of bias and can serve as a jumping off point for bigger creations. Winner: Moonvalley Best Outcomes, Visual Media & Arts AI Arts & Media - AI can do more than help in drafting. It can help to give narration to an established idea, adjust writing styles and tones, and help in overcoming writers block with brainstorm generation, as well as simply correcting errors in spelling and grammar. Winner: Spines Best Outcomes, Customer Experience AI Brand & Retail - AI can assist in the overall customer experience by influencing outcomes in basket size, reducing return rates and overall retention and margins. Winner: Perfect Corp. Best Outcomes, Marketing and Creative AI Brand & Retail - AI can offer personalized marketing, A/B tests, website navigation, cross-selling/up-selling and enhanced product descriptions. Winner: Maesa Best Outcomes, Product Development and Innovation AI Brand & Retail - AI functionality assists in interpreting and summarizing end user feedback to extend the lifecycle of products and/or develop entirely new products. Winner: Trax Retail Best Outcomes, Analyzing Customer Data AI Customer Service - AI is transforming business through data analytics, identifying customer patterns through large datasets, predicting behaviors and even laying out customer-centric marketing campaigns, all based on data. Winner: Pipeliner CRM Best Outcomes, Customer Satisfaction AI Customer Service - AI can improve customer satisfaction by helping customers in real time, working to answer questions and solve problems as they arise. Winner: Intercom Best Outcomes, Commercial Learning AI Education - Some things AI can provide here are automated training, virtual tutors, learning and content recommendations. Winner: Coursera Best Outcomes, General Learning AI Education - Some things AI can provide here are automated training, virtual tutors, learning and content recommendations. Winner: Salesforce Best Outcomes, K-12 Education AI Education - AI can be used to tailor learning to individual needs and assess a student's strengths and weaknesses, using this data to create the best learning programs. Winner: ClassDojo Best Outcomes, Higher Education AI Education - Uses for AI in higher education can range from student teaching to support systems, admin and admissions to curriculum planning. Winner: MedCerts Best Outcomes, Financial Services AI Finance - AI is transforming investment, corporate banking, insurance and investments. This includes process automation, efficiencies, enhanced revenue opportunities, compliance and data privacy. Winner: Principal Financial Group Best Outcomes, Mitigating Fraud AI Finance - AI can aid in detecting and preventing fraud by analyzing transaction patterns and identifying anomalies and potential cyber-attacks. Winner: Instnt Best Outcomes, Accounting AI Finance - This AI category would include invoice processing, document review, forecasting, auditing, tax compliance, overall compliance checks, data analysis and fraud detection. Winner: ABBYY Best Outcomes, Care Coordination AI Health Care - AI tools can be used to bolster hospitals' command centers—evaluating wait times and helping with scheduling. They can also respond to patient inquiries and help schedule appointments. Winner: Xsolis Best Outcomes, Health Equity AI Health Care - AI can analyze large swaths of data and identify disparities in health care. Winner: Bunkerhill Health Best Outcomes, Patient Care AI Health Care - AI creations that correlate to patient health, as all roads lead to the patient. Winner: Cera Best Outcomes, Diagnostics AI Health Care - AI tools can be used to guide diagnosis, especially in image-heavy specialties like radiology. Winner: Color Health Best Outcomes, Physician Satisfaction AI Health Care - AI in health care can automate administrative tasks, taking time-consuming duties off doctors' plates. Winner: Iodine Software Best Outcomes, Content Creation AI Marketing - Automating copy writing, design and creative quality can create dynamic content with various user interactions. Winner: Extreme Networks Best Outcomes, Consumer Targeting and Personalization AI Marketing - Leveraging patterns in market/customer data, identifying quality leads and segmenting to boost conversions can all precisely segment audiences through AI. Winner: Beeby Clark + Meyler Best Outcomes, Programmatic Marketing AI Marketing - AI trends in programmatic can include personalized ad experiences and predictive analytics to deliver highly personalized marketing at scale. Winner: Clinch Best Outcomes, Automotive/Transportation UX Systems AI Mobility - AI is being used in the background and foreground to make UX systems better and offer more efficient and accurate computing. AI can also provide detailed explanations of expedited and improved processes. Winner: Mercedes-Benz AI Best Outcomes, Computer Science AI Science & Engineering - AI is being used to provide high levels of accuracy in data visualizations, processing and mining. This might also lean into robotics, image recognition and program writing. Winner: Warp Best Outcomes, Engineering AI Science & Engineering - AI impacts engineering in many ways, from analytics to risk assessment to streamlining and comparing regulations. Winner: CloudBees Best Outcomes, Materials Science and Chemistry AI Science & Engineering - Chemists have been using AI for some time to identify patterns to perform quick and precise analysis, and also in predicting new compounds with desired, required properties. Winner: Every Cure Best Outcomes, Sports Broadcasting/Streaming AI Sports - The use of AI can capture performance highlights, distribute those highlights across multiple platforms and improve the overall viewing experience for the sports fan. Winner: SailGP Best Outcome in Climate Adaptation & Resilience AI Sustainability - AI tools are consistently improving the monitoring and response to extreme weather events that are exacerbated by climate change, across fire, flooding and heatwaves. Winner: Straive Best Outcome in Energy Infrastructure AI Sustainability - AI is assisting with the best siting and permitting of solar and wind power, and overall better development of clean technology. Winner: IBM Best Outcomes, Digital Workspaces AI Workplace - AI assists across tracking user time in apps, messages sent, project completion times and collaboration wins. Winner: Zoom AI Companion Best Outcomes, HR AI Workplace - Payroll, compliance, workforce planning & management and other HR functions have consistently been enhanced with the use of AI. Winner: Betterworks Best Outcomes, Learning and Development AI Workplace - Using AI can show improvement in participation, internal mobilities, onboarding of new positions and tasks, and enhance overall employee development. Winner: Pfizer Extraordinary Impact in AI Innovation Best of - Most Innovative AI Technology or Service - Recognizing an AI methodology, technology or architecture with potential to profoundly impact multiple real-world use cases. Winner: Phare Bio Extraordinary Impact in Commercial Tool or Service Best of - Most Innovative AI Technology or Service - Recognizing a commercially available AI tool or service that has enabled significant gains in productivity, customer experience, or new revenue generation across one or more industries. Winner: Axon Enterprise Extraordinary Impact in General Purpose AI Tool or Service Best of - Most Innovative AI Technology or Service - Recognizing a commercially available AI tool or service that has demonstrated significant commercial or cultural impact. Winner: Extraordinary Impact in AI Human Interactivity or Collaboration Extraordinary Impact in AI Human Interactivity or Collaboration - Recognizing a commercially available AI tool or service that that has demonstrated significant value in enhancing interactive human-to-human or human-to-machine communication and collaboration. Winner: Ex-Human Extraordinary Impact in AI Transparency or Responsibility Best of - Most Innovative AI Technology or Service - Recognizing a commercially available AI tool or service that that has demonstrated significant value in enhancing explainability or responsibility of AI systems Winner: EY Responsible AI framework Best in Class Best in Class - Recognized by the panel of cross-industry judges as the overall winner of the AI Impact Awards, demonstrating significant impact in its field and successful execution of a "big idea." Winner: Every Cure Licensing To learn how to license and use this award, please email Kalin Alberts at How We Did It The Newsweek AI Impact Awards recognize artificial intelligence implementations that solve real business problems and show measurable results. Winners demonstrate concrete improvements—whether in efficiency, cost reduction, revenue growth or customer experience—rather than just promising future potential. A panel of industry experts including Marcus Weldon, Newsweek contributing editor for AI and president emeritus of Bell Labs, evaluated entries across multiple sectors. Judges were selected by Newsweek's editorial team for their hands-on experience in health care, finance, manufacturing and other industries where AI had moved beyond experimentation to practical deployment.
