Reboot Rx Receives Grants Totaling $1 Million

Funds From Arnold Ventures, DRK Foundation, and Lyda Hill Philanthropies Will Accelerate Development of Affordable Cancer Treatments

(Boston, MA – April 4, 2023) – Nonprofit startup Reboot Rx announced today that they have received grants totaling $1 million from Arnold Ventures, the Draper Richards Kaplan (DRK) Foundation, Lyda Hill Philanthropies, Amazon Web Services through their IMAGINE Grant, and other donors following an extensive diligence process. It is the first foray into drug repurposing for these prominent foundations. 

Reboot Rx will use the new funds to accelerate their development of affordable cancer treatments through repurposing generic drugs. Repurposing generics is a major opportunity to reduce the time and cost of creating new cancer treatments while producing low-cost therapies for patients. Reboot Rx’s proprietary AI technology dramatically reduces the time to analyze vast amounts of data from years to weeks. They successfully deployed their technology and in only 12 weeks identified the most promising generic drugs to repurpose for treating prostate cancer.

“I am thrilled to see such enthusiasm in the philanthropic community for giving generic drugs a new life in oncology,” said Laura Kleiman, PhD, Founder and CEO of Reboot Rx. “In the long-term, our work could expand treatment options for 9 million cancer patients each year worldwide.” 

Branded cancer drugs can cost more than $10,000 per month, whereas some of Reboot Rx’s repurposing candidates for prostate cancer cost less than $50 per month. “Many people struggle to afford their medication, especially people with cancer,” said Mark E. Miller, Executive Vice President of Health Care for Arnold Ventures. “Reboot Rx’s work has the potential to develop transformative therapies that are affordable not only to patients, but also to employers and taxpayers.”

Over the next year, Reboot Rx will increase the accuracy of their AI technology so they can identify the top drug repurposing candidates for other cancer types even faster, and they will develop their strategy for driving clinical adoption. “Reboot Rx is harnessing scientific breakthroughs and applying state-of-the-art technology to advance the search for new cancer treatments,” said Lyda Hill, Founder of Lyda Hill Philanthropies. “I am excited to support this innovative, woman-led company.”

"When you have cancer, every minute counts,” said Jim Bildner, CEO of DRK Foundation. "Few can afford the expensive treatments available today. Reboot Rx is developing a faster way to identify existing affordable drugs that can be repurposed for life-saving cancer treatments. We couldn’t be prouder to support them."

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About Reboot Rx

Reboot Rx is the nonprofit startup dedicated to fast-tracking the development of affordable cancer treatments by repurposing generic drugs. Founded in 2020, Reboot Rx leverages their AI technology to systematically prioritize drug repurposing opportunities, develops innovative funding and partnership models to generate definitive drug evidence, and creates policy initiatives to impact the standard of care for cancer patients worldwide. For media inquiries, contact Kathryn Shehade at kshehade@drkfoundation.org.

About Arnold Ventures

Arnold Ventures is a philanthropy dedicated to tackling some of the most pressing problems in the United States. Driven by a mission to maximize opportunity and minimize injustice, it invests in sustainable change, building it from the ground up based on research, deep thinking, and a strong foundation of evidence. Arnold Ventures is headquartered in Houston, with offices in Washington, D.C., and New York City. For media inquiries, contact David Hebert at dhebert@​arnoldventures.​org.

About Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation

Since 2002, Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation has supported more than 200 organizations, collectively impacting more than 270 million lives through a novel funding and support strategy. The Foundation supports early stage, high impact social enterprises solving the world's biggest and most pressing social and environmental problems. To date, DRK has raised over $200 million of capital and deployed more than $110 million to find, fund and support more than 200 social enterprises around the globe. For media inquiries, contact Kathryn Shehade at kshehade@drkfoundation.org.

About Lyda Hill Philanthropies

Lyda Hill Philanthropies encompasses the charitable giving for founder Lyda Hill and includes her foundation and personal philanthropy. Our organization is committed to funding transformational advances in science and nature, empowering nonprofit organizations and improving the Texas and Colorado communities. Because Miss Hill has a fervent belief that “science is the answer” to many of life’s most challenging issues, she has chosen to donate the entirety of her estate to philanthropy and scientific research. For more details visit Lydahillphilanthropies.org.