Dr. Bruce Bloom (LAW ’88) stepped down this past summer after almost two decades as chief executive officer of Cures Within Reach, a pioneering nonprofit he founded that funds research into repurposing pharmaceuticals to treat rare diseases. He will continue to support Cures Within Reach while working as chief collaboration officer at Healx, a Cambridge, United Kingdom-based company that uses artificial intelligence in drug repurposing for rare diseases.
A dentist by training but unable to practice full-time because of a vision condition, Bloom pursued a new career. After graduating from law school, he worked for several years at Bausch & Lomb and CNA Insurance, while practicing law part-time, before joining the nonprofit sector.
What is a popular repurposed drug?
In the 1960s thalidomide was originally used as an anti-nausea drug and was given to a lot of pregnant women. Depending on when women took the drug, it caused birth defects in their offspring, so it was removed from the market. It was brought back on the market because it helped patients with leprosy. Thalidomide was eventually repurposed for the blood cancer multiple myeloma, with support from Cures Within Reach, which led to the development of additional drugs that were based on thalidomide that had an even greater impact on multiple myeloma and other cancers.
What was your biggest success at Cures Within Reach?
We were the first nonprofit organization in the world to champion drug repurposing. The thing that is most important to me is that we directly impact patient lives. In the 10-plus years we’ve been repurposing drugs, we’ve created 13 therapies, 10 of which are being used off-label in medicine to improve, and in many cases save, lives. A drug is generally approved for one disease, but a physician can decide to use it “off-label” for a secondary disease if there is compelling reason to do so. The other three drugs are moving toward commercialization.
How can artificial intelligence be used to identify promising treatments?
Healx and other biotechs understand that there may be combinations of two or three drugs that together work to solve a disease. Drug A might improve something going on in a cell but the cell might have a compensatory mechanism that blocks what that drug is doing. Drug B can block the compensatory mechanism, and now Drug A can keep doing its job without the cell thwarting it. In cancer, chemotherapy often works initially but the cell knows how to stop it. So we give a second drug that can stop the cell from thwarting the chemotherapy. Artificial intelligence and machine learning can help humans do a better job of figuring out how to make those combinations work.
How have you used your law education throughout your career?
I’m always involved in creating collaborations, and every collaboration has a series of agreements. I’m a law school nerd and love wordsmithing agreements. I became a much better writer, thinker, and speaker, and learned how to be a prudent risk-taker. So I’m not afraid to get out there to try new things.