On October 8, the final day of the pilot edition of the Drug Repurposing Venture Challenge organized by FAST and ZonMw took place. Five promising teams presented their pitches to an expert jury in the morning. At the end of the day, the €20,000 prize was awarded by Han van Krieken (on behalf of ZonMw) and Paul Smits (on behalf of FAST). The winning team, SAVE, convinced the jury with their innovative use of Sirolimus for rare congenital vascular anomalies.

Final day at a glance
The jury, consisting of Arno de Wilde, Karel Stolper, Corné Baatenburg de Jong, Saharla Ahmed, and Stijn van Rompay, assessed the five inspiring presentations. Here, the teams showed the jury how they had carried out thorough analyses during the challenge, answered critical questions about risks, feasibility, and market opportunities, and developed clear roadmaps for the next steps.
Team SAVE,  with Maroeska teLoo, Veroniek Harbers, Edith Klappe en Carine van der Vleuten of Radboudumc, impressed the jury with their in-depth medical and pharmacological expertise, thorough knowledge of the disease, long-term effects, patient-centered approach, and their consistent vision on their guiding principles and commitment to making the medicine available at an affordable price. Where knowledge about safe long-term use in rare diseases is often lacking, SAVE clearly explained how they intend to fill this gap, giving the team an important competitive advantage. This was decisive for the jury in awarding the prize to Team SAVE. The team may invest the prize money in follow-up steps towards clinical application.
The other finalists (Sherwood, Omnicin Therapeutics, Nephraxis, and SimpLEIGH) also presented high-quality and potentially impactful projects. They made an important contribution to the ambition of this venture challenge: to stimulate entrepreneurship in drug repurposing.

Why invest in drug repurposing?
Drug repurposing, the re-designation of an existing drug for a new indication, offers significant advantages:
• Faster and more cost-efficient development: much of the safety and toxicity data is already known, which means that part of the development process can be shortened.
• Greater accessibility for patients: with targeted repurposing, the drug can be (re)integrated into a market strategy so that patients have more certainty about on-label use instead of off-label experiments.
• Social responsibility & societal impact: commercial incentives are often limited, particularly for rare diseases. Strategic entrepreneurship and responsible licensing can make repurposing attractive without compromising patient access.

Nevertheless, there are challenges that should not be underestimated: commercial risks (such as limited market potential), reimbursement issues, and regulatory hurdles.

By supporting the Venture Challenge teams in setting up a solid venture or business case, FAST and ZonMw want to demonstrate that repurposing medicines is not just a scientific niche, but a practical path to patient-relevant innovation.

Why FAST and ZonMw are committed to this initiative
With the Drug Repurposing Venture Challenge, both organizations want to promote their vision: not only subsidizing research, but also guiding it toward socially responsible entrepreneurship and market validation, with the ultimate goal of clinical application. The challenge enables researchers to take their scientific breakthroughs beyond the traditional academic setting. In addition, this initiative fits within the broader strategy of both FAST and ZonMw to stimulate drug repurposing through innovative tools, collaboration, and knowledge sharing within the Dutch and European ecosystem.

Next steps & call for involvement
With this recognition, Team SAVE can continue to work on registration processes, validation, (clinical) study design, and strengthening collaborations with hospitals, patient organizations, and investors. The other teams remain in the picture: they will have access to the REMEDi4ALL and RARE-NL networks, coaching, and follow-up processes to further develop their projects.

For investors, healthcare institutions, policymakers, and patient groups, this initiative offers opportunities to become involved at an early stage in promising drug repurposing projects. FAST and ZonMw call on interested parties to get in touch, contribute ideas, and collaborate on the further development of drug repurposing in the Netherlands.

We warmly congratulate SAVE as the winner of this pilot edition. FAST and ZonMw look forward to the impact that the SAVE project can make and to the further growth of drug repurposing.