Paediatric Technologies Hub
CELT Global Health is working with The Global Accelerator for Paediatric Formulations (GAP-f) and other partners to create and implement a Paediatric Technology Hub (PTH) as part of GAP-f’s strategic plan 2025 – 2030. The hub is designed to accelerate the development of, and improve access to, innovative, age-appropriate paediatric technologies matched to priority medicines. The mission of the Paediatric Technology Hub is to ensure that existing and emerging technologies are matched for compatibility with essential medicines, and that innovations are aligned with specific needs and requirements of low- and middle- income countries. This includes scalability, affordability, and accessibility.
Background
Despite advances in paediatric medicines, a significant gap remains as many essential drugs, including those on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines for Children (EMLc), still lack dosage forms suitable for all intended age groups.
The fragmentation in technological approaches presents challenges in choosing the right technology and ensuring its accessibility. Though drug delivery technologies are rapidly evolving, such as long acting injectables, microarray patches, implantable drug delivery systems, there is limited attention on optimising these innovations for paediatric use.
The delay between the development of new technologies and their availability for children can span several years, sometimes even decades. Furthermore, the high initial costs of such technologies often render them inaccessible to children, especially in low and middle-income countries.
Expertise
Developing and optimising products for paediatric use is a complex process requiring specialised technical expertise and cross-functional collaboration. The WHO-led Paediatric Drug optimisation (PADO) group was initially established to review priorities for HIV drug development, and now additional PADO groups exist for other diseases. PADO sets the foundations for GAP-f, and PADO processes aim to identify key priority products and their preferred product characteristics for research and development.
Unfortunately, organisations working to create age-appropriate medicines with priority drugs often lack streamlined access to expert networks that can support the design and testing of innovative solutions to improve delivery of medicines to children. To address the gap, the Paediatric Technology Hub was established using funding from the National Institute of Health, to identify and translate critical and emerging technologies into actionable insights.
There will be 3 main workstreams; Workstream 1: Horizon Scanning; Workstream 2: Feasibility and Suitability and Workstream 3: Matching.
Partnerships
- Advanced Bioscience Laboratories (ABL) will provide oversight of the PTH, whilst being well positioned to provide expert input and proof-of-concept work if required
- Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) will perform horizon scanning and develop and maintain a public PTH database. MPP is a United Nations-backed public health organisation working to increase access to and facilitate the development of life-saving medicines for low- and middle-income countries
- European Paediatric Formulation Initiative (EuPFI) will work on suitability and feasibility assessments and will coordinate potential proof-of-concept work with disease specific GAP-f members. EuPFI is a consortium dedicated to promoting and facilitating the preparation of better and safter medicines for children. EuPFI is globally recognised as the unique network that has brought together key expertise in paediatric drug development for over 15 years
- Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi) will provide strategic input in the implementation of the PTH by linking with the Product Development and Regulatory Affairs working group, which it currently co-leads at GAP-f. DNDi is a not-for-profit research and development organisation whose mission is to develop new treatments for people living with neglected diseases. DNDi bridges existing R&D gaps in essential drugs by initiating and coordinating drug R&D projects in collaboration with the international research community
- CELT Global Health will harness the outcomes from Workstreams 1 and 2 in order to undertake technical matching of technologies and medicines. Matching medicines with age-appropriate technologies will enable strong recommendations to be made for progression of PADO-prioritised medicines that are not currently available in age-appropriate formats.
CELT Global Health is a member of GAP-f and will also provide project management of PTH, ensuring project and partner coordination, hosting meetings, facilitating dissemination of information to stakeholders, and subcontracting any agreed proof-of-concept work.
