CELT Global Health's Community of Practice for long-acting therapeutics for maternal and paediatric health
CELT Global Health has developed and is hosting Community of Practice for long-acting therapeutics in maternal and paediatric health. This is part of the scope within CELT Global Health’s costed extension, funded by global health agency Unitaid.
Project overview
The Community of Practice sits with our Perinatal Pharmacology group and is led by Dr Adeniyi Olagunju. The Community of Practice has brought together a globally representative group of stakeholders with interest in long-acting therapeutics development and use in pregnant and lactating people.
Significant gaps currently exist in the development of new medicines for people of child-bearing potential and children, compared with the general adult population. This gap could expand further with new treatment modalities like long-acting therapeutics.
For instance, there is currently no guidance on possible changes in drug exposure from long-acting therapeutics due to the physiological changes associated with pregnancy.
Additionally, the extent of breastfed infant exposure through breast milk is largely unknown. The dynamic nature of paediatric physiology has implications for transferability of adult-appropriate long-acting technologies to paediatric use.
Objectives
- Catalyse the development and availability of long-acting therapeutics of value for maternal and paediatric health globally, including in low- and middle- income countries via online focus group discussions, workshops, webinars, surveys, an annual in-person meeting and other innovative strategies, through:
- Engaging relevant stakeholders in academia, clinical practice, pharmaceutical industry, regulators, women and patient groups
- Synthesising evidence-based perspectives on best practices for long-acting therapeutics
- Disseminating outputs from the community of practice for uptake by the wider community through white papers, peer-reviewed publications, workshop presentations, and open access web resources
- Improve design and conduct of clinical trials of long-acting therapeutics in women during the perinatal period and paediatrics
- Facilitate new studies to address key questions on the use of long-acting therapeutics in women during the perinatal period and paediatrics
- Identify research gaps that could be addressed with targeted funding opportunities from national and global funding bodies
- Improve guidance and policies on the development and use of long-acting therapeutics for women and children’s health.
Joining the Community of Practice
There are several planned meetings for the Community of Practice (mostly occurring online with one in-person workshop taking place annually).
While the community of practice was launched in January 2025 and we’re happy for new members to join us at any point. To ensure the energy and impact of the Community of Practice is reflective of a wide range of stakeholder groups, we are keen to work with:
- Subject matter experts from industry
- Regulatory bodies
- Patient groups
- Governments
- Community members.
We are also developing a stream of work focused on co-developing training resources for non-expert members of the public to facilitate their membership of the Community of Practice.
If you are interested in joining, please fill out this short expression of interest form. We will then be in touch with further information and the next steps if your interests align with the project.
If you have any further questions before registering your interest, please contact us on askcelt@liverpool.ac.uk.
Upcoming sessions
27 March 2026 - Webinar
Our March session title is 'Clinical and Pharmacogenomics Considerations for the Use of Long-acting Antipsychotics in Pregnancy' and is being led by James Lee, a Lead Pharmacist at Devon Partnership NHS Trust, and Jeff Bishop, a Professor of Psychopharmacology and Pharmacogenomics at the University of Minnesota.
This session will explore the current evidence and national guidance on long-acting injectable antipsychotics use in pregnancy, including safety considerations, maternal and fetal implications, and practical decision-making in perinatal mental health care.
You can register for this session on the March webinar Teams page.
Previous sessions
23 January – Launch
The meeting marked the official launch of the CELT Global Health's Community of Practice for long-acting therapeutics for maternal and paediatric health. During the meeting the key objectives for the Community of Practice were set:
- Collaboration:
Bringing together diverse stakeholders—academics, regulators, NGOs, and healthcare professionals—to drive innovation in LATs. - Knowledge Sharing:
Facilitating the exchange of best practices, research findings, and clinical insights. - Innovation:
Encouraging novel approaches and solutions to improve LATs for maternal and paediatric populations. - Access & Equity:
Ensuring LATs are accessible and appropriate for all populations, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). - Improved Outcomes:
Enhancing the safety and effectiveness of treatments for pregnant, lactating women, and children.
Discussion highlights
- Scope & Inclusivity:
Members emphasised the need for inclusive language and representation, particularly regarding gender diversity and regional equity. The CoP aims to be disease-agnostic but currently has strong representation from infectious disease experts. - Governance & Membership:
A light-touch governance model was proposed, with potential for rotating leadership roles and thematic leads. Members discussed balancing broad participation with effective coordination. - Outcomes & Impact:
Proposed outcomes include white papers, peer-reviewed publications, increased web engagement, and influence on policy and funding. Dissemination strategies beyond web presence were encouraged. - Themes for Future Work:
Six thematic areas were identified for deeper exploration:- Dynamic maternal and paediatric physiology in LAT development
- Formulation design and innovation
- Accessibility and implementation in LMICs
- Stakeholder engagement and community participation
- Policy advocacy and dissemination
- Health systems and ethical considerations
- Rapid Insight Session
Participants contributed real-time feedback on the six themes to help shape future webinars, workshops, and in-person meetings.
January session recording
January session presentation slides
The slides are available in a downloadable PDF of the January session slide deck - celt-cop-launch-23-january-2025-slide-deck
- Professor Robert Bies’ slide deck - celt-cop-dynamics-in-pregnancy-slide-deck-19-march-25
1 July – In-person meeting
The first in person meeting was held at The Spine in Liverpool, UK. Around 40 delegates attended in person and just under 20 online. They spanned the globe and represented many industries and patient groups, but all of us had a common interest in keeping pregnant and lactating people, and children, safe during this time of newly developing drug delivery modalities.
The agenda for the day was packed with four different sessions considering the impact of long-acting therapeutics;
Maternal health
Paediatric health
Global health
19 October - Webinar - Considerations for long-acting injectable microsuspension development - Lessons from an anti-malarial therapy
Guest speaker, Laxman Cherkupally, Associate Director – Pharmaceutical Development at Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV), shared insights into considerations for long-acting injectables microsuspension development with lessons from an anti-malarial therapy.
Laxman took us on a really comprehensive tour of MMV's journey so far, including different long-acting projects, including different challenges they had to consider, such as syringeability and injectability differences and so much more.
October session recording
October session presentation slides
There is a downloadable PDF of the October session slide deck available - celt-cop-october-2025-session-slides
Documents
- A list of the members of Community of Practice as of January 2026 including professional biographies.
celt-community-of-practice-members-december-2025 - The slide deck for the presentation of the launch of the Community of Practice on 23 January 2025.
celt-cop-launch-23-january-2025-slide-deck