Repurposing TIN: Innovative approaches to accelerate drug repurposing

This Repurposing TIN webinar series will address some of the challenges in the Drug Repurposing space described in the seminars held during 2020. The focus of these new webinars will be on technological and commercial/regulatory aspects worth exploring to support the UCL community and will count on the invaluable contribution of external partners from industry, not-for-profit organisations, charities and patient groups.

Repurposing approved and abandoned drugs, whose development was discontinued for non-safety-related reasons, offers the opportunity to progress promising drug therapies by taking advantage of existing data and experience. This is also applicable to generic medicines. Yet the abundance of data that needs to be reviewed first and the market failure for funding clinical trials with these categories of drugs mean that patients have been unable to benefit from many potentially life-saving treatments. Furthermore, incentives are needed to encourage more scientists to share their findings in order to increase the public availability of data that could effectively advance the process.

In the fourth seminar of the Repurposing TIN series, partner organisations will describe how they have successfully furthered their mission to translating discoveries from the laboratory to marketplace for the benefit of patients. We will discuss new (and non-traditional) collaboration, business and funding models arising to bridge stakeholders, and also how these partnerships have helped change prescribing policies and build a more supportive overall pathway.

• 14:30-14:35 Welcome and Introduction of the TINs (Asha Recino, Coordinator of the Repurposing Therapeutic Innovation Network)
• 14:35-14:40 Opening Remarks (Oscar Della Pasqua, Chair of the Repurposing Therapeutic Innovation Network)
• 14:40-14:55 Strategies for Repurposing Discontinued Assets (Cesare Spadoni- aPODD Foundation, Oncoheroes Biosciences)
• 14:55-15:10 Finding the Needle in the Haystack: Identifying the Ideal Repurposing Opportunity (David Cavalla- Numedicus)
• 15:10-15:25 How an Innovative, New Concept Has Accelerated Treatment Towards the Patient (Mike Johnson- St George Street Capital)
• 15:25-15:40 Paul Fleming- BGMA (Title TBC)
• 15:40-15:55 Fast-Tracking the Development of Affordable Cancer Treatments Using Repurposed Generic Drugs, AI Technology, and Innovative Funding Models (Laura Kleiman- Reboot Rx)
• 15:55-16:10 Cladribine a Journey in Repurposing From Cancer Therapy To Widespread Adoption in the NHS for Multiple Sclerosis Patients and DATA-CAN - an Overview of the HDRUK Research Hub for Cancer (Charlie Davie- DATA-CAN)
• 16:15-16:40 Questions from the Audience and Panel Discussion

Who Should Attend?

Basic and translational researchers at all career stages and currently involved/or planning to work in the Drug Repurposing space are encouraged to attend. The Repurposing TIN aims to reach out to researchers interested in what research questions to ask when repositioning drugs that are already on the market, and in getting the right type of support at the right time. We'd also like to invite existing and potential industry partners to attend, as we provide insights into the work of the TINs to accelerate the translation of biomedical discoveries into viable therapeutics.