REMEDi4ALL, an EU-funded research project, kicks off to drive forward the repurposing of medicines in Europe

BHH member Teamit Research will lead together with EATRIS, the operational, communication and exploitation strategies to ensure the smooth implementation of the project and long-term impact. Identifying new therapeutic options for existing medicines (or drug repurposing) has the potential to significantly bring down the time and costs involved in drug development. This novel approach opens a window of opportunity in areas with high unmet medical needs -rare or neglected diseases, cancer, public health emergencies- but is still in an early development stage. To advance on this direction, the EU is funding the REMEDi4LL Consortium with 23 million euros in the next 5 years through the Horizon Europe (HE) programme with the objective of making patient-centric drug repurposing the new normal. This will have an impact not only on patients worldwide but will also contribute to the sustainability of health systems. During this period, the project will develop an innovative platform to support promising repurposing projects championed by patients. REMEDi4ALL has selected four medicine repurposing projects in different stages of development to demonstrate the viability of the newly created platform. Each project covers a different therapeutic area with high unmet medical needs– pancreatic cancer, COVID-19, rare diseases and ultra-rare diseases-. These projects will first be onboarded to ensure a patient-centric approach before testing all elements of the platform to optimise its tools and services. REMEDi4ALL will also build a global community to advance on key aspects -regulatory, policy, market access- for future proofing medicine repurposing. Teamit’s contribution to a unique combination of expertise Under the leadership of EATRIS, the European infrastructure for translational medicine, 24 organisations will combine their expertise in the fields of clinical and translational research, clinical operations, patient engagement and education, regulatory framework, funding, governance, Health Technology Assessment (HTA) or pricing and reimbursement to make cost-effective repurposed medicines more widely available. Teamit Research was heavily involved in the proposal stage and will now play a major role in operational, communication, dissemination, international networking and exploitation strategies to ensure the smooth implementation of the project and long-term impact. Eva Molero, Teamit’s CEO explains: “REMEDi4ALL will mark a turning point in how medicines are developed in Europe. It represents a unique opportunity to improve people’s health by enabling patients’ access to life-saving treatments in a cost-effective way. This vision, totally aligned with Teamit’s, inspires us enormously to give our best and achieve this important goal.”