Cures Within Reach: Clinical Trial Funds to Validate AI-Driven Drug Repurposing

[Clare Thibodeaux]

Cures Within Reach (CWR) has released a Request for Proposals (RFP) seeking investigator-initiated, proof of concept, Phase I or Phase IIA clinical trials to validate artificial intelligence (AI)-driven repurposing opportunities in any unsolved disease from anywhere in the world, where the therapies supported by AI models are already approved. Eligible clinical repurposing trials must include AI or machine learning generated data as part of the preclinical support for the trial. The results of the overall AI workflow should clearly support the repurposing hypothesis and/or any existing preclinical data and be explainable in a clinical setting. Supporting data from any type of AI model is accepted for this RFP, including models that are developed/owned/controlled by nonprofit/academic/government institutions or for profit companies or open to public use or only accessible via collaboration. CWR is accepting budgets of up to $100,000 for this funding opportunity, which includes the required institutional match, and CWR may provide up to $10,000 in additional funding for approved community engagement. See the full RFP at https://bit.ly/cwrrfps.

Repurposed therapies must be approved and/or generally recognized as safe for human use by a governmental regulatory agency and can include drugs, biologics, eligible cellular/gene therapies or combination therapies. These repurposed therapies must be tested in a new indication for which they are not already approved or used widely in clinical practice as standard of care. Repurposed therapies may also be added to current standard of care to improve patient outcomes and/or quality of life.

While CWR is accepting submissions in any disease area, CWR has a preference for clinical trials addressing rare diseases. Submissions can come from accredited academic and nonprofit research institutions and/or health systems significantly involved with medical research located anywhere in the world.

CWR does not recommend or endorse the use of one AI model or multi-model workflow over another. That said, stakeholders have asked CWR for a list of eligible AI models. During our 2025 AI Validation RFP, we learned that there are well over 50 eligible models, with more releasing monthly. CWR has a list of AI model options called “Potential AI Model Resources for CWR 2026 RFP” available here. This is not an exhaustive list of eligible AI models, and models not listed are eligible for AI Validation submissions.

CWR has a 2-stage submission process, starting with the brief Letter of Intent (LOI). The top-rated LOI submissions will be invited to submit a full scientific proposal. All submissions are ProposalCentral (https://proposalcentral.com). Search for “Cures Within Reach” and submit your LOI using the “Non-Disease Specific Repurposing Research” program. The LOI submission deadline is 11:59pm U.S. Eastern Time on June 26, 2026.

[Author]

Posts