Purpose

Hanuman Medical Foundation supports, funds and carries out research for the creation and use of therapeutics to prevent or delay death, to alleviate pain and suffering, and to improve the treatment of symptoms caused by various human diseases or pathological conditions.

The Foundation aims especially to identify and support innovative approaches to research which are unlikely to receive funding from public or normal venture sources. We call these innovative approaches 'orphan therapies'. The Foundation's Scientific Review Committee, which includes Board members who are scientists as well as distinguished outside scientists and clinicians, review the grant proposals and decide which research projects are consistent with the purpose and mission of the Foundation, and therefore, should receive funding.

The Hanuman Medical Foundation is redressing a major institutional failing. Public funding of research (e.g., NIH) is allocated using the peer-review system which favors research projects that expand knowledge. Analogously, venture investors pursue return on investment (i.e., profit) to select research projects; a good return on investment requires rapid progress on a profitable product that can treat many people. A great many promising ideas are not pursued because they qualify neither by peer review nor by return on investment: these are 'orphan therapies.'

Hanuman Medical Foundation will focus on therapeutic concepts that would greatly benefit those suffering from diseases yet would not provide a sizable return to investors and would not greatly expand scientific knowledge.

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The first orphan therapy the Foundation plans to fund is the Solving Diabetes Project. This project involves the development of a thin sheet bioartificial pancreas (the Islet Sheet) to treat type 1 diabetes. The larger goal of this research project is to develop cellular therapies to treat metabolic disorders generally.

The foundations intends to develop many other projects to develop orphan therapies in the future for the benefit of people suffering from diseases.