Cures Within Reach

Online, May 2, 2017 (Newswire.com) - SKOKIE, Ill. - May 2, 2017 - PRLog -- Cures Within Reach, the leading global nonprofit focused on repurposing research as a fast track to saving patient lives, will honor Timothy P. Walbert, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Horizon Pharma plc, at the 5th Annual Global Health Repurposing Awards (GHRA).  Mr. Walbert will receive the 2017 Cures Within Reach Industry Patient Impact Legacy Award for his strong commitment to pursuing rare disease treatments.  He will be presented with his award on June 27, 2017 at the Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel in Chicago, IL.

Walbert joined Horizon Pharma plc in June 2008 as its president and chief executive officer and has served as chairman of its board of directors since 2010.  Since joining Horizon, Walbert has been focused on the rare disease community, and he has dedicated significant financial and operational resources to develop rare-disease therapies.  Outside of Horizon, Walbert is a leader in his personal life, as current chairman of the iBIO board and a member of the BIO board. He also serves on several nonprofit boards, including World Business Chicago and the Greater Chicago Arthritis Foundation.

"Cures Within Reach is honored to recognize Tim, whose dedication at Horizon Pharma to finding treatments for rare diseases will change patients' lives," remarked Dr. Bruce Bloom, President and Chief Science Officer at Cures Within Reach. "His ability to bring together key stakeholders to develop these life-altering treatments truly embodies the spirit of the Cures Within Reach Industry Patient Impact Legacy Award."

The rare disease focus at this year's GHRA commemorates Cures Within Reach's first repurposing success, which found that the drug sirolimus created a life-saving treatment for a rare disease called autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome. The four Global Health Repurposing Awards that will be presented this year at the GHRA will honor leaders in business, science, medicine and philanthropy. Their achievements have made a difference in patients' lives through repurposing research that finds new uses for existing drugs, devices and nutraceuticals.

The award Walbert will receive, the Cures Within Reach Patient Impact Legacy Award, recognizes an industry leader who has made positive patient impact by contributing to the growth and profile of repurposing research within the healthcare industry, through financial, operational and/or collaborative support. Previous awardees include Dr. Jerome B. Zeldis, Sorrento Therapeutics, formally of Celgene Global Health and Celgene Corporation; Dr. Richard DiMarchi, University of Indiana, former VP of Eli Lilly; Dr. Norbert Riedel, Aptinyx Inc. and former Executive VP at Baxter International; and Michael Rosen, Chairman of the Board of the Center for Healthcare Innovation, formerly of the Illinois Science + Technology Park and Forest Realty.

"I am honored to receive the 2017 Cures Within Reach Patient Impact Legacy Award and to be added to an impressive list of business leaders who have made an impact in the biopharma industry," Walbert said. "Horizon has always been committed to measuring success not just by the growth of our business, but by how we improve patients' lives.  We recognize that by leveraging science and treatments that already exist, we may have the opportunity to make patients healthier, faster."

To attend the 2017 GHRA and honor all awardees, visit www.cureswithinreach.org/ghra-2017.

ABOUT CURES WITHIN REACH

Cures Within Reach (www.cureswithinreach.org) works to catalyze repurposing research to quickly and affordably improve patient lives. We accomplish this by connecting funders with researchers to jumpstart repurposing research clinical trials, by providing collaboration tools so repurposing stakeholders can work together more easily, and by pioneering alternative finance engines and incentives for repurposing research. Cures Within Reach's repurposing research projects have generated over a dozen "new" treatments making patient impact through off-label use in clinical practice or through a commercialization track. Cures Within Reach currently has 24 repurposing research projects either funded or approved for funding. Visit us at www.cureswithinreach.org or follow us via Twitter @CuresWReach, LinkedIn.com/company/cures-within-reach, YouTube.com/cureswithinreach or Facebook.com/CuresWithinReach.

ABOUT CUREACCELERATOR™

Cures Within Reach built CureAccelerator (www.cureaccelerator.org) to provide a global

collaboration space and marketplace for repurposing research that can deliver effective solutions to unsolved diseases. The CureAccelerator platform was built with a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, to provide a platform in which drugs, devices and nutriceuticals approved for one or more human diseases can be repurposed to create "new" treatments in other diseases. CureAccelerator has over 1,000 users who have proposed 120 projects, of which more than 20 have received funding and are moving towards patient impact.

About Horizon Pharma plc
Horizon Pharma plc is a biopharmaceutical company focused on improving patients' lives by identifying, developing, acquiring and commercializing differentiated and accessible medicines that address unmet medical needs. The Company markets 11 medicines through its orphan, rheumatology and primary care business units. For more information, please visit http://www.horizonpharma.com. Follow @HZNPplc on Twitter or view careers on its LinkedIn page.