Cures Within Reach: Funding for Underresourced Researchers in LMICs

[Clare Thibodeaux]

Cures Within Reach (CWR) has released our funding opportunity Request for Proposals (RFP), supporting clinical repurposing trials led by underresourced researchers and clinicians based in low and lower-middle income countries (LMICs), as defined by the World Bank (https://data.worldbank.org/products/wdi-maps), to impact LMIC-based patients. See https://bit.ly/cwrrfps for full RFP details. CWR is interested in building capacity for clinical research in LMICs while finding available and affordable treatments for patients in LMICs through repurposing research. This RFP is seeking clinical repurposing trials to address any unsolved disease facing patients in LMICs. However, CWR has a preference for trials that address high disease burden (https://ourworldindata.org/burden-of-disease) whether non-communicable diseases; communicable diseases; maternal, neonatal and nutritional diseases; or injuries.

CWR’s strongest preference is for proof of concept, pivotal, Phase I or Phase IIA clinical repurposing trials supported by strong preclinical evidence, real world evidence, AI/ML drug-disease matching tools and/or clinical observations. CWR is accepting budgets of up to US$70,000 for this funding opportunity. All submissions must include ideas and/or plans to engage the community of interest before, during and after the proposed clinical trial. CWR will provide up to US$8,500 in additional financial support for community engagement, with at least US$4,000 required for community engagement.

Repurposed therapies must be approved and/or generally recognized as safe for human use by some regulatory agency, such as the US Food and Drug Administration, European Medicines Agency, Health Canada or Japan’s Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency, and can include generic drugs, nutraceuticals or indigenous 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 also may be added to current standard of care to improve patient outcomes and/or quality of life.

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 “Repurposing Research in LMICs” program. The LOI submission deadline is 11:59pm U.S. Eastern Time on April 10, 2026.

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