Saving Lives Using Repurposed Medications: Dr. David Fajgenbaum, Co-Founder of Every Cure

To mark the sixth anniversary of Raise the Line from Elsevier we're revisiting one of the most remarkable stories we've had the privilege of sharing over the last 575 episodes. To do that, we're delighted to welcome back Dr. David Fajgenbaum, a physician-scientist who repurposed an existing medication that saved his own life from Castleman disease, an ultra-rare condition that nearly killed him on five occasions. Because there was no treatment specifically for Castleman, Dr. Fajgenbaum set out to find a previously approved medication that might work. “I eventually found a drug that was made for another disease 50 years ago. It's been over 12 years that I've been doing great on this medicine.”  

When he first joined us in 2022, Dr. Fajgenbaum was just launching a non-profit organization called Every Cure with the hope of replicating the success he achieved in his own case, and as you’ll learn in this inspiring interview with host Lindsey Smith, its work has already saved thousands of lives. “It's a tragedy if someone dies while there's already a drug in their local hospital that could help them.” 

In the latest installment of our Year of the Zebra series on rare conditions, you’ll hear an inspiring example of a life saved by this approach and also learn about:

• The role of artificial intelligence in scanning thousands of medications and diseases to find possible matches;
• How Every Cure decides which drugs merit the costly research needed to confirm a match; 
• Dr. Fajgenbaum’s philosophy of “living in overtime.”

Mentioned in this episode:
Every Cure

Osmosis Video on Castleman Disease

Dr. Fajgenbaum's Bestselling Memoir, Chasing My Cure

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