The Pediatric Praziquantel Consortium is an international public-private partnership dedicated to reducing the global burden of schistosomiasis by developing and ensuring access to a pediatric formulation of praziquantel for children aged 3 months to 6 years.

Running since 2012, this consortium together with all of its partners have gone through the multiple different phases of drug development.

Key milestones achieved by the Consortium include:

• Clinical Development: Completion of a comprehensive Phase I–III clinical program, culminating in a positive scientific opinion from the European Medicines Agency in December 2023.
• WHO Prequalification: Inclusion of the new pediatric treatment in the World Health Organization's List of Prequalified Medicines in May 2024.
• Access Strategy: Implementation of the ADOPT program to facilitate equitable and sustainable access to the treatment in endemic countries, starting with Uganda, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Tanzania, and Senegal.

The Consortium collaborates with local ministries of health and global partners to integrate the new treatment into national health systems, aiming to eliminate schistosomiasis as a public health problem and contribute to the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

 Acknowledgement

The Consortium is financially supported by Merck; in-kind contributions from the Consortium’s partners; and grants from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (2012), the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (GHIT) (2014, 2015, 2016, 2019 & 2020), and the European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP), under its second program supported by the European Union (2018 & 2021).