Every Cure MATRIX

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In the fast-moving world of medical innovation, some of the most transformative breakthroughs come not from discovering new molecules but from rethinking what we already have. That is the central idea behind Every Cure MATRIX, an artificial intelligence–powered platform that is rewriting the rules of drug discovery. Developed by the nonprofit organization Every Cure, this technology is helping scientists uncover new uses for existing, FDA-approved medications—turning yesterday’s drugs into tomorrow’s cures.

At its heart, Every Cure’s mission is both simple and profound: to make sure no potential treatment goes unnoticed. With more than 3,000 approved drugs and over 20,000 known diseases, the vast majority of illnesses still lack effective therapies. Yet many of the answers may already exist within the world’s medicine cabinets. The challenge has been finding them—and that’s where artificial intelligence has stepped in.

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How the MATRIX Works

Every Cure’s MATRIX platform acts like a massive digital detective. It collects and analyzes an enormous range of biomedical information, from genetic and protein data to clinical trial results, real-world medical records, and scientific literature. Using advanced machine learning and knowledge graph technology, the system maps out complex relationships among drugs, genes, proteins, and diseases.

In essence, it builds a “map of medicine” that connects dots human researchers could never fully process on their own. By analyzing millions of possible drug–disease combinations, the MATRIX identifies which existing medicines might be useful for new therapeutic purposes.

Once the platform generates a list of high-probability matches, a team of experts reviews the findings to determine whether the predictions make biological and clinical sense. Promising leads then move into preclinical studies or small-scale clinical trials, where safety and effectiveness can be tested more quickly than in traditional drug development—since the drugs in question are already known to be safe for human use.

This approach not only saves time and money but also opens the door to treatments for conditions once considered untreatable. In fact, the platform’s disease-agnostic method—meaning it doesn’t start with a single illness but scans broadly for patterns—has already yielded promising results across multiple therapeutic areas.

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Proven Successes: From Rare Diseases to Common Conditions

Every Cure’s influence is already visible in medical practice and scientific research around the world. Under the leadership of co-founder Dr. David Fajgenbaum, the organization has helped uncover or advance at least fourteen existing medications that have been successfully repurposed to treat various rare diseases. Each of these breakthroughs demonstrates how the integration of artificial intelligence with human expertise can accelerate medical discovery and improve patient outcomes.

A deeply personal and extraordinary case centers on Idiopathic Multicentric Castleman Disease (iMCD), a rare and potentially fatal immune disorder. While still a medical student, Dr. David Fajgenbaum was diagnosed with the disease and faced several near-death experiences before identifying a potential lifeline in sirolimus (Rapamune)—a medication originally designed to prevent organ transplant rejection. His discovery not only saved his own life but also motivated him to establish Every Cure, aiming to extend similar breakthroughs to others. Through the organization’s data-driven validation efforts, sirolimus has since gained recognition as an effective treatment option for individuals living with iMCD.1

Another success involves Angiosarcoma, a rare and aggressive cancer. Through systematic analysis using Every Cure’s methods, researchers identified existing drugs that showed unexpected activity against this form of cancer, offering new therapeutic options for patients who previously had none.²

The platform has also helped uncover treatments for DADA2 Syndrome (Deficiency of ADA2), a rare vascular inflammatory disease that often affects children. MATRIX-guided insights led researchers to existing drug regimens capable of controlling the disease’s severe symptoms.³

In addition, POEMS Syndrome, a rare condition affecting multiple organs, has benefited from therapies identified through Every Cure’s systematic drug repurposing framework.³

Every Cure’s influence even extends to more common health conditions. Studies have found that folinic acid, a simple vitamin supplement, can help certain children with autism spectrum disorder—especially those with genetic variants linked to folate metabolism—develop speech and cognitive improvements.⁴ Similarly, lidocaine, a drug most people recognize as a local anesthetic, has shown unexpected benefits in reducing mortality in breast cancer patients when used during surgery, a finding that emerged from large-scale data analyses like those used by Every Cure.⁴

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Why AI-Driven Repurposing Matters

Traditional drug development is painfully slow and expensive. On average, it takes about ten to fifteen years and over a billion dollars to bring a single new medicine to market.⁵ Even then, most experimental drugs fail before reaching patients. By contrast, repurposing existing drugs dramatically shortens that timeline because the safety profiles, dosage ranges, and manufacturing processes of these medications are already well understood.

Every Cure’s MATRIX platform transforms drug discovery by making it both faster and more strategic. Rather than relying on chance or isolated findings, it leverages predictive analytics to methodically pinpoint the most promising drug candidates across a wide range of diseases. With support from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) and technology partners including Google Cloud, the team aims to identify 100 potential new drug applications over the next five years and advance at least 25 of these into active research or clinical trials.

Moreover, the approach democratizes access to drug discovery. Rare and neglected diseases—conditions that pharmaceutical companies often overlook because they affect small patient populations—can now receive attention. The use of affordable, generic, and widely available drugs also means that treatments discovered through Every Cure’s work are more likely to reach patients worldwide, not just those in wealthy nations.

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Recognition and the Road Ahead

In 2025, TIME Magazine named Every Cure MATRIX one of its Best Inventions of the Year, recognizing the platform’s potential to revolutionize healthcare.⁶ The publication praised its ability to accelerate medical breakthroughs and bring hope to patients who have long been told there are no options left.

Dr. Fajgenbaum and his team are now working to expand the MATRIX platform to cover all known diseases and drugs, creating what they describe as a “universal treatment map.” Their ultimate goal is to ensure that no effective treatment remains hidden in data.

“The answers are already out there,” Fajgenbaum said in a recent interview. “We just need to find them.”7

If their progress so far is any indication, the fusion of AI and human compassion that defines Every Cure may well change medicine as we know it. It’s not just about curing rare diseases—it’s about reimagining how we discover cures altogether.

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Bibliography 

1. Every Cure MATRIX: The Best Inventions of 2025. Time Magazine, 2025. https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2025/7318443/every-cure-matrix/

2. Every Cure to Receive $48.3M from ARPA-H to Develop AI-Driven Platform. Every Cure, 2024. https://everycure.org/every-cure-to-receive-48-3m-from-arpa-h-to-develop-ai-driven-platform-to-revolutionize-future-of-drug-development-and-repurposing/

3. Every Cure Expands Collaboration with Google Cloud to Transform AI-Driven Drug Repurposing. Every Cure, 2024. https://everycure.org/every-cure-expands-collaboration-with-google-cloud-to-transform-ai-driven-drug-repurposing/

4. “Drug Repurposing: How Every Cure’s AI Platform Unlocks Treatments for Diseases.” HealthTech Remedy Podcast, 2024. https://healthtechremedy.com/episodes/drug-repurposing-how-every-cure-s-ai-platform-unlocks-treatments-for-diseases-with-founder-dr-david-fajgenbaum

5. “AI Platform Will Match Diseases with Potential Treatments.” WHYY, 2024. https://whyy.org/articles/ai-platform-every-cure-medicine-disease-treatment-university-pennyslvania/

6. “Every Cure Gets $48 Million for AI-Powered Rare Disease Research.” CSL VITA, 2024. https://www.csl.com/we-are-csl/vita-original-stories/2024/every-cure-gets-48-million-for-ai-powered-rare-disease-research

7. David Fajgenbaum, “Every Cure MATRIX: The Best Inventions of 2025,” LinkedIn, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/davidfajgenbaum_every-cure-matrix-the-best-inventions-of-activity-7382502908971610113-hhyh