664. Are Thousands of Medical Cures Hiding in Plain Sight?

Existing drugs can sometimes be repurposed to treat rare diseases. But making that match can be hard — and the financial incentives are weak. Guest host Steve Levitt tries to solve the puzzle.

• SOURCES:

• Chris Snyder (faculty-directory.dartmouth.edu/christopher-sn…), professor of economics at Dartmouth College.

• David Fajgenbaum (med.upenn.edu/apps/faculty/index.php/g275/p820…), co-founder and president of Every Cure, physician-scientist at the University of Pennsylvania.

• Heather Stone (linkedin.com/in/heather-stone-51a94a49), health science policy analyst at the Food & Drug Administration.

• Sarrin Chethik (linkedin.com/in/s-chethik), senior policy analyst at the Market Shaping Accelerator.

• RESOURCES:

• Chasing My Cure: A Doctor's Race to Turn Hope into Action; A Memoir (amzn.to/40inncE), by David Fajgenbaum (2019).

• Strong Medicine: Creating Incentives for Pharmaceutical Research on Neglected Diseases (amzn.to/4tOfJEA), by Michael Kremer and Rachel Glennerster (2016).

• Market Shaping Accelerator (marketshapingaccelerator.org).

• CURE ID Registry (cure.ncats.io/create).

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