Latest news with #Fajgenbaum
Newsweek
18-06-2025
- 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.
Business Journals
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Journals
Penn's Dr. David Fajgenbaum gets a movie deal for his survival story
By submitting your information you are agreeing to our Privacy Policy and User Agreement . The film based on Fajgenbaum's memoir "Chasing My Cure" is backed by the Academy Award-winning producer of "Forrest Gump" and "The Devil Wears Prada." Dr. David Fajgenbaum is going Hollywood. The life of the University of Pennsylvania physician-researcher will be the subject of an upcoming feature film after the rights to his book "Chasing My Cure" were optioned by City Hill Arts. Founded by biotech entrepreneur Dr. Jonathan E. Lim, the San Diego media production and financing company plans to immediately put the movie into development. "Chasing My Cure" is Fajgenbaum's 2019 memoir about being diagnosed with a rare and usually fatal illness known as Castleman disease while he was a medical student at Penn. Given six months to live, the former Georgetown University quarterback decided not to accept that fate. GET TO KNOW YOUR CITY Find Local Events Near You Connect with a community of local professionals. Explore All Events Fajgenbaum turned to crowdsourcing to bring together an unconventional team of researchers studying Castleman, a disease that affects the lymph nodes. The effort led to Fajgenbaum's discovery of a drug called sirolimus, used by transplant patients to combat organ rejection, as an effective treatment against Castleman disease. expand "Chasing My Cure" is a memoir by David Fajgenbaum. John George "I am so thankful to be alive and to be able to share my story with the world,' Fajgenbaum said. "Going through it, the experience felt pretty similar to a movie thriller — the same drop in your stomach, the same fear about how it's all going to turn out. And, at times, I lost all hope, but also, like a movie, I kept grinding and believing it would work out — and that is what I hope will make this movie gripping and inspiring for audiences." The Business Journal first talked to Fajgenbaum about his story, which included almost dying five times, back in 2019. Today, Fajgenbaum is an associate professor of medicine at Penn and president of Every Cure, a nonprofit organization he co-founded that is using artificial intelligence to find new cures for rare diseases by repurposing existing medicines. City Hill Arts, which began operations in 2019, produced two films that were released last year: "My Penguin Friend" with actor Jean Reno and "The Secret Art of Human Flight." It is currently producing "The Housewife" starring Naomi Watts and Tye Sheridan, and "Rain Reign" starring Paul Rudd and Jeremy Sisto. Among its documentaries in post-production are "Bucks County, USA" from director Barry Levinson. The movie adaptation of "Chasing My Cure" will be written by Amy Snow and produced by Robin Jonas and Academy Award winner Wendy Finerman, whose producing credits include "Forrest Gump" and "The Devil Wears Prada," alongside City Hill Arts founder Lim. Fajgenbaum said the idea of turning his memoir into a movie gained traction when Finerman reached out to him more than seven years after she read a story about him in the New York Times. "She is a Penn alum and we've become friends over these years," he said. Lim has been founder, CEO or chairman of six life sciences companies: Halozyme, Eclipse, Ignyta, Bonti, Erasca, and Boundless Bio. The firms have collectively raised more than $3 billion and generated over $10 billion in shareholder value. Fajgenbaum said when he met Lim, he found another person who had dedicated his life to searching for cures for devastating conditions. "He is passionate about sharing inspiring stories with the world," Fajgenbaum said. " I knew he was the right person to partner with [Finerman] and me to bring this story to life." Lim, in a statement, called "Chasing My Cure" precisely the kind of movie his team at City Hill Arts is pursuing. "[It's] a story of someone doing something extraordinary," Lim said. "The fact that there's a medical and biotech angle to the story is certainly a plus, given that we know that world so well. But audiences will connect with the unwavering determination to live, and the love and ingenuity that helped make it possible, that defines David's story. He's an incredible individual and a true movie hero." Asked who he would like to see play him in the movie, Fajgenbaum said just wants "someone who really cares about sharing this story and our mission." He said his wife Caitlin's two top choices are Miles Teller and Bradley Cooper. "They are both Philly guys," he said, "and they seem like they could be great." Sign up here for the Philadelphia Business Journal's free newsletters, and download our free app for breaking news alerts.
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
This Washington Black Man Would Be Dead Without AI, Here's What We Know
There was thought to be no hope for Joseph Coates nearly a year ago. However, after his girlfriend begged for help from a Philadelphia doctor, the young Black man who had so much more life to live received help from the unlikeliest of places. According to the New York Times, Coates had been suffering from POEMS syndrome, a blood disorder that hurts your nerves and other parts of your body. In the case of the 37-year-old Coates, his hands and feet became numb and he had an enlarged heart and kidneys that were failing. Thinking there was nowhere else to turn, Tara Theobald, Coates' girlfriend, reached out to Dr. David C. Fajgenbaum, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. But, Dr. Fajgenbaum didn't use his own brain to discover a way to treat Coates' rare blood disorder, he used artificial intelligence. More from the New York Times: In labs around the world, scientists are using A.I. to search among existing medicines for treatments that work for rare diseases. Drug repurposing, as it's called, is not new, but the use of machine learning is speeding up the process — and could expand the treatment possibilities for people with rare diseases and few options. Thanks to versions of the technology developed by Dr. Fajgenbaum's team at the University of Pennsylvania and elsewhere, drugs are being quickly repurposed for conditions including rare and aggressive cancers, fatal inflammatory disorders and complex neurological conditions. Dr. Fajgenbaum used AI to come up with a unique solution using steroids, chemotherapy, and other untested treatments to help Coates' disorder. Although there were initial worries that the treatment might worsen his life, it did the opposite and made him recover faster than anyone would've hoped. It was so successful that four months later he was approved for the stem cell treatment that would improve his condition and currently, the 37-year-old is in remission. For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
