This week, Give To Cure announced the launch of its nonprofit platform that accelerates drug development through “cure-funding,” or funding promising clinical trials directly and transparently by harnessing the power of the crowd.
Lou Reese, co-founder of Give To Cure, stated:
“We’ve created a science-driven community that realizes the power of the crowd to find cures faster. Our goal is to bridge the translational valley of death in the drug development process, and fund promising treatments that are ready to be tested in patients tomorrow. We have a hunger for finding cures and know many Americans are passionate in the same way. One hundred percent of the funds raised by the public will be used to ‘cure-fund’ clinical trial research. Give To Cure allows people a way to put their money where their hearts are.”
For its first campaign, Give To Cure chose to target Alzheimer’s Disease because it represents one of the largest unmet medical needs in the world today. More than 5.6 million people in the United States alone are suffering with Alzheimer’s, and that number is expected to triple to 16 million by 2050. Alzheimer’s is the sixth-leading cause of death and continues to grow. There is no cure, and it can’t be prevented or even slowed. Alzheimer’s is the single biggest medical expenditure costing the United States more than $200 billion annually.
Mei Mei Hu, co-founder of Give To Cure, added:
“As people focus this month on the issues surrounding Alzheimer’s, we want them to know there is a myth that Alzheimer’s research is properly funded. Our goal is to activate and engage passionate individuals in our community to help us accelerate funding so that we can connect good people to good medicine. Chances are, individuals and/or their families will be touched at some point in their lives by this disease. If every one of the 5.6 million current Alzheimer’s patients had $15 donated in their honor, we can statistically fund enough trials to find new treatments. This would be a huge step forward to find a cure.”
See Give to Cure’s infographic below.
