Give to Cure Adds Ability for Users to Give Through Venmo App
Dallas, Texas (PRWEB) February 05, 2016 -- Give To Cure today announced that it is working with Venmo to allow users to search for and donate to Give To Cure’s campaign that is crowdfunding clinical trials to help find cures faster for Alzheimer’s Disease. Venmo is an app that lets users make and share payments through a smart device. In 2015 alone, Venmo processed $7.5 billion in transactions among users.
Give to Cure is the world's first non-profit that accelerates drug development by empowering individuals to directly and transparently fund clinical trials. It aims to address the critical and systemic bottleneck in the medical research and drug development process between affordable discovery research and when drug production becomes profitable. This stage, consisting of clinical trials, is where treatments first reach human trials. Clinical trials have a higher probability of success, and a shorter potential lead time to a cure or therapy, as compared to funding of earlier stage research.
“We have already chosen three clinical trials with real potential to move the needle on finding cures for Alzheimer’s. Through crowdfunding, Give To Cure wants it to be easy and convenient for anyone to get involved to support our researchers. Our model is about making science and social good accessible – and working with Venmo to connect with supporters digitally is a very exciting first step,” said Lou Reese, Co-Founder of Give To Cure.
Give To Cure is targeting Alzheimer’s Disease as today more than 5.6 million people in the United States alone are suffering with Alzheimer’s Disease. It is the sixth leading cause of death and the only disease that in still growing in numbers; and it has a footprint well beyond the diagnosed individuals, affecting caregivers, family members and loved ones. Alzheimer’s Disease costs the U.S. economy more than $200 billion every year.
“The number of Alzheimer’s patients is overwhelming – and it’s growing everyday. We truly believe that if every person touched by Alzheimer’s gave $15, we would statistically be able to find a cure for this devastating disease. Working with an application like Venmo, that is user friendly and accessible, makes that donation actually possible,” said Suzanne Kwok, Executive Director of Give To Cure
Give To Cure’s innovative crowdfunding model (dubbed "curefunding") will allow the public to have a voice in the drug development process for the first time. Just last year, Give To Cure launched a groundbreaking competition for eligible FDA or FDA-equivalent approved clinical trials, ready to enroll patients within six months of funding. The competition attracted nearly 40 applications from more than a dozen countries and 13 U.S. states, and became one of the most successful RFPs conducted in the Alzheimer’s space. Give To Cure assembled an independent Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) comprised of leading thinkers, researchers and doctors in Alzheimer’s to evaluate the applications. Unlike traditional funding sources that must consider business factors such as risk, diversification, and commercial marketability, the SAB was freely guided by science over profit.
Through a rigorous process, Give To Cure has chosen and prioritized three Alzheimer’s trials and is planning to crowdfund approximately $10 million to support this research. Once this first campaign is concluded, Give To Cure will utilize its platform to expand its scope, including other major diseases.
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About Give To Cure
Give to Cure is the world's first non-profit that accelerates drug development by empowering individuals to directly and transparently fund clinical trials. A team comprised of researchers, doctors, and professionals, Give to Cure in guided strictly by science and works to bring front-line treatments to those who need them, through the power of crowdfunding.
Learn more or donate at http://www.GivetoCure.org
Follow us on social media:
Facebook: /GiveToCure
Twitter: @GiveToCure
Venmo: GivetoCure
Jen Solomon, Give To Cure, +1 (516) 680-8927, [email protected]
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