The mindbodygreen Podcast

629: How surviving death 5x led him to reinvent drug discovery | David Fajgenbaum, M.D.

21 Dec 2025

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“There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of drug repurposing opportunities just waiting to be uncovered,” explains David Fajgenbaum, M.D. David Fajgenbaum, M.D., physician-scientist, bestselling author of Chasing My Cure, co-founder of Every Cure, and leader in the global push for drug repurposing, joins us today to explain why the cures of tomorrow may already be on pharmacy shelves today—and how his team is racing to uncover them. - From college athlete to ICU (~3:15) - Finding a cure (~7:20) - Hope needs to drive action (~9:45) - Repurposing drugs (~11:10) - Use cases of generic drugs (~13:30) - Lithium for bipolar & Alzheimer’s (~16:00) - Lidocaine & breast cancer (~17:25) - GLP-1 for longevity benefits (~19:20) - Increasing awareness in the healthcare system (~20:10) - The 3 main hurdles for repurposing drugs (~22:00) - Opportunities in the space (~23:10) - 14 advanced repurpose treatments (~28:00) - The power of AI (~32:50) - Using AI for personalized medicine (~34:30) - AI for treatment options (~37:45) - Common drugs with big potential (~41:00) - The future of healthcare & drug discovery (~44:50) - How you can help (~49:30) Referenced in the episode: - Follow Fajgenbaum on Instagram (@dfajgenbaum) - Check out his website (https://davidfajgenbaum.com/) - Listen to his previous episode on the mbg podcast (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/life-lessons-from-a-doctor-who-almost-died-from/id1246494475?i=1000470061486) - Pick up his book, Chasing My Cure (https://www.amazon.com/Chasing-My-Cure-Doctors-Action/dp/1524799637/) - Listen to his TED Talk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sb34MfJjurc) - Learn more about Every Cure (https://everycure.org/) We hope you enjoy this episode, and feel free to watch the full video on YouTube! Whether it's an article or podcast, we want to know what we can do to help here at mindbodygreen. Let us know at: [email protected]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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The mindbodygreen Podcast

The mindbodygreen Podcast

629: How surviving death 5x led him to reinvent drug discovery | David Fajgenbaum, M.D.

This episode hasn't been transcribed yet

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