Arizona Tribune - Biotech Community Curetopia Raises $1.77M to Advance Rare Disease Cures with Blockchain

ZUG, SWITZERLAND / ACCESS Newswire / March 20, 2025 / In a groundbreaking achievement, Curetopia, the first Biotech Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) built natively on the Solana blockchain, raised $1.77 million last week to scale up drug repurposing for inherited metabolic diseases through the Bio Protocol Launchpad. This milestone is driving cutting-edge research aimed at developing the first treatment for AARS2 Deficiency, a potentially fatal rare genetic disease with no approved therapies currently on the market.

Curetopia's innovative approach empowers patients and researchers to crowdfund medical breakthroughs, emphasizing community involvement and a shared stake in the resulting advancements. Over 1,000 individual contributors participated in this $1.77 million raise, highlighting the power of community-driven science. Participants in Curetopia's decentralized clinical trials become active stakeholders in the therapies they help to develop.

A key outcome of this effort is the identification of two drug repurposing candidates for AARS2 Deficiency, uncovered by a fully de-risked, high-throughput, yeast-powered screening process. Curetopia is filing a provisional patent for this discovery, working with two pioneer AARS2 families on launching parallel N-of-1 studies, and plans to reinvest any future proceeds into further research initiatives.

Dr. Ethan Perlstein, founder and CEO of Curetopia, stated:

"The success of Curetopia's auction in the face of brutal market conditions speaks to the fact that rare disease communities and crypto communities are natural allies. We've already demonstrated with the inaugural AARS2 program that we can deliver results on a timeline and with capital efficiency that is unheard of in TradBio. Now it's time to cook."

Curetopia is part of the growing Decentralized Science (DeSci) movement, which has collectively raised over $15 million for research in the past three months. This influx of funding is timely, as traditional sources like the NIH and NSF face ongoing budget pressures.

Moving forward, Curetopia will develop an AI-driven, decentralized clinical trial model to address thousands of rare diseases-each representing a $150 million market opportunity based on historical sales of Priority Review Vouchers. By focusing on drug repurposing, the organization seeks to expedite regulatory processes and deliver life-changing treatments to patients more quickly.

About Curetopia

Curetopia is a non-profit association pioneering the world's first Biotech DAO dedicated to eradicating rare diseases through decentralized science launched via the Bio Protocol launchpad. With over 10,000 rare diseases affecting 1 in 10 people worldwide, Curetopia provides patient communities with innovative tools to fund research, drive innovation, and ensure promising therapies are not abandoned.

Bio Protocol is a new financial layer for early-stage biotech, accelerating the commercialization of breakthrough research. It enables global communities-patients, researchers, and crypto users-to fund and co-own biotech innovations from day one. Backed by Binance Labs, Northpond Ventures, and 1kx, Bio has facilitated over $50M in research funding worldwide.

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SOURCE: Curetopia

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