Pediatric Praziquantel Consortium gains members from Brazil and the UK
Aims to make schistosomiasis treatment accessible to children under six in endemic countries
Farmanguinhos (Institute of Drug Technology), a technical-scientific unit of Fiocruz (Oswaldo Cruz Foundation) in Brazil, and UK-based Simcyp have joined the international non-profit Pediatric Praziquantel Consortium.
The Consortium aims to develop and register a new paediatric formulation against schistosomiasis for children under six. If not treated properly, this parasitic disease, which affects 243 million people globally, results in high morbidity involving anaemia, stunting of growth and reduced learning ability. In some cases, it can also be fatal.
Farmanguinhos, the government pharmaceutical laboratory, brings its expertise in pharmaceutical manufacturing in endemic countries and Simcyp its pharmacokinetic modelling capabilities to the organisation. Their know-how complements the existing scientific, regulatory and access expertise provided by the founding partners of the Pediatric Praziquantel Consortium.
The Consortium, which was founded in July 2012, is led by Merck, with the support of Astellas Pharma, Swiss TPH and governance facilitated by Top Institute Pharma (TI Pharma). With the addition of Farmanguinhos and Simcyp, it says it is now ready to start the clinical development of the paediatric formulation of praziquantel.
Stefan Oschmann, Member of the Merck Executive Board, said: 'We are very pleased to welcome Farmanguinhos and Simcyp to our partnership. Respectively, they bring critical manufacturing and drug modeling expertise to the consortium. Over the last year, we've made important progress across the pediatric praziquantel programme, with advances in the clinic that will enable new options for young children suffering from schistosomiasis, and ultimately, accelerate our goal of eliminating the disease altogether.'
Simcyp’s modelling expertise will incorporate the relevant metabolic interactions related to ethnicity and disease state. By doing so, it will enable the Consortium to predict better the appropriate dosage for the clinical trials in preschool children, which is important for the development programme.
