{"entity":{"id":"idea-reg-global-repurposing-fund","kind":"idea","name":"A public fund that pays for phase 3 trials of cheap, off-patent drugs against cancer","aka":[],"tldr":"Old drugs like aspirin, statins and beta-blockers show hints of fighting cancer, but no company will pay to prove it. A dedicated public fund should.","summary":"The ReDO project (Anticancer Fund) catalogues hundreds of off-patent drugs with anticancer signals; almost none have reached a definitive trial. Public funders have run a few (Add-Aspirin, ALASCCA, MA.32 metformin), and the UK, Belgium and the EU have discussed repurposing frameworks. The proposal is a dedicated international fund (order of $200-300 million a year, from NIHR, NCI, EU and philanthropy) with an independent prioritisation panel, a standing trial network, and a requirement that funded trials be designed to support regulatory label updates and guideline inclusion.","asOf":"2026-09-08","links":[{"label":"Anticancer Fund ReDO project (page moved; nearest live section)","url":"https://www.anticancerfund.org/en/"}],"tags":[],"related":[],"cancers":[],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":["b-generic-repurposing","b-funding-allocation"],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"hypothesis":"The fund completes at least ten definitive repurposing trials in its first decade, of which at least two produce practice-changing survival benefits at a cost per life-year gained under $5,000.","rationale":"Repurposed generics have no sponsor because the returns cannot be captured; the expected value to health systems is enormous even at a low hit rate because the drugs cost almost nothing to deliver once proven.","test":"Capitalise the fund, select the first five trials through open prioritisation, and report time to enrolment, cost per trial and results against a pre-registered portfolio plan.","maturity":"early-clinical","actor":"philanthropy","cost":"large","horizonYears":6},"route":"/ideas/idea-reg-global-repurposing-fund/","neighbours":{"bottleneck":[{"id":"b-funding-allocation","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Funding follows fashion, not burden","route":"/bottlenecks/b-funding-allocation/"},{"id":"b-generic-repurposing","kind":"bottleneck","name":"No incentive to repurpose cheap drugs","route":"/bottlenecks/b-generic-repurposing/"}]}}