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Philly-based Every Cure gets $76M in funding from ARPA-H for rare disease AI tool

Every Cure, a biotech nonprofit started by University of Pennsylvania researcher David Fajgenbaum, will use the funds to advance its AI tool that matches existing drugs with rare diseases.

David Fajgenbaum at the Every Cure offices. Fajgenbaum was a third year medical student at Penn when he was diagnosed with Castleman disease, a rare lymph node disorder with limited treatment options. His experience inspired him to find ways to identify treatments for others with rare diseases.
David Fajgenbaum at the Every Cure offices. Fajgenbaum was a third year medical student at Penn when he was diagnosed with Castleman disease, a rare lymph node disorder with limited treatment options. His experience inspired him to find ways to identify treatments for others with rare diseases. Read moreSteven M. Falk / Staff Photographer

Every Cure, a biotech nonprofit started by a University of Pennsylvania researcher, has landed $76 million in federal funding to advance its artificial intelligence match-making tool that identifies existing drugs to treat rare diseases.

Over the next three years, Philadelphia-based Every Cure will use the funding from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) to pursue preclinical studies for at least 20 drugs that show promise for being repurposed for rare diseases with no other treatment options. The company will also pursue clinical trials to further test the safety and effectiveness of repurposing another 10 existing drugs.

The nonprofit was co-founded in 2022 by David Fajgenbaum, an associate professor at University of Pennsylvania, after his own experience with a rare disease.

He was diagnosed with Castleman disease as a medical student at Penn, and experimented in a campus lab with his own blood to try to find an off-label medication that could address his symptoms.

Every Cure’s AI tool expedites a drug discovery process that is otherwise often left to chance. When patients with rare diseases have few treatment options, doctors may scour medical journals or tap expert networks for leads on other drugs to try with mixed results.

The tool automates the process, using an algorithm to read massive biomedical data about diseases, medications, genes, and proteins. The tool looks for bits of data that diseases and medications may have in common that were previously unrecognized.

“This next phase will allow us to do the essential work of evaluating these potentially life-saving treatments in the lab and clinical trials, accelerating access to potential treatments for those who urgently need them,” Fajgenbaum, Every Cure’s President, said in a statement.

The new funding adds to $108 million in federal support the nonprofit has already received.