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# Woodcock Joins Board at Drug Repurposing Nonprofit
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/woodcock-joins-board-at-drug-repurposing-nonprofit/
- Published: 2024-10-07T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T14:43:20.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: Drugs, #legacy-id-D5157928

Former FDA principal deputy commissioner **Janet Woodcock** has joined the board of directors at Every Cure, a nonprofit organization that looks at repurposing existing drugs to treat rare diseases. Over the past 15 years, the group says it helped advance 28 repurposed drugs for multiple diseases.

“Our approach democratizes biomedical insights from both public and proprietary data, so repurposing can happen faster and more frequently, allowing everyone to access life-saving treatments, Every Cure says. “Until recently, we repurposed drugs for specific rare diseases, like Castleman disease (CD). But AI \[artificial intelligence\] enables us to rapidly identify connections across all drugs and all diseases, simultaneously, to find the highest-impact opportunities.”

The group says that leveraging AI and “big data” helps identify the most promising uses for existing drugs across all diseases. “We then test the top matches and deliver proven cures to patients, prioritizing equity and affordability throughout our approach,” it says. “Because generic, FDA-approved drugs have a known safety profile and are already manufactured and available worldwide, often with substantial data already existing to support the potential new use, drugs can go through an accelerated research process.”

Every Cure appears to be a good fit for Woodcock who said shortly after retiring ([see story](https://www.fdaweb.com/cdrh-health-equity-discussion-paper/)) that she wanted to help the nonprofit side and particularly people with rare diseases. Woodcock said she wants to help rare disease groups navigate the delicate balance of determining how to operate development programs to meet their unique circumstances without jeopardizing their ability to get to market.

“My own belief is you cannot look people in the eye and say there's no way you'll ever have a therapy developed for you, except by accident or something, that just isn't right,” she said. “So, we have to find a way to help people especially with ultra-rare diseases. But it takes a lot of effort and creativity, but not too much creativity in the sense that you're not going to be successful getting through the regulatory process. So, I think it's that balance that I can help with.”

Earlier this year, Woodcock took on an advisory role at the Haystack Project, a nonprofit group dedicated to ensuring patient access to treatment options for the rare and especially ultra-rare community ([see story](https://www.fdaweb.com/woodcock-plays-advisory-role-at-patient-nonprofit/)). Formed in 2016, Haystack Project “brings together patient organizations representing extremely rare diseases to learn from each other and speak out about the systemic barriers to appropriate patient care for our community,” it says.