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Home > Research and development

Target product profiles

Home > Research and development

Target product profiles

Selecting for success in the field: The target product profile

As a prerequisite to building a portfolio strategy, the desired R&D outcome for each disease is defined as the target product profile (TPP). Each R&D project in the portfolio is selected, progressed, and managed according to well-defined decision matrices based on these TPPs.

Used properly, the TPP can play a central role in the entire drug discovery and development process. This role includes effective optimization of drug candidates, decision-making within an organization, design of clinical research strategies, and constructive communication with regulatory authorities.

Characteristics of a target product profile

  • Indications: Which diseases?
  • Population: Which patients and where?
  • Clinical Efficacy: Does it kill the parasite effectively?
  • Safety and Tolerability: What kind and how many adverse events?
  • Stability: How long can it be stored in the field?
  • Route of Administration: How is it given to patients?
  • Dosing Frequency: How often and how long must it be given?
  • Cost: Will it be affordable to target population?
  • Time to Availability: How long will it take to develop?

Our target product profiles

  • Sleeping sickness
  • Visceral leishmaniasis
  • Cutaneous leishmaniasis
  • Chagas disease
  • River blindness
  • Mycetoma
  • Paediatric HIV
  • COVID-19

Making medical history for neglected patients

We develop urgently needed treatments for neglected patients and ensure they’re affordable, available, and adapted to the communities who need them

Young boy sitting on a hospital bed being examined by a nurse

Chagas disease

Causes heart and vital organ damage, after people are bitten by blood-sucking bugs

We delivered the first-ever treatment for children; now we’re searching for new drug candidates and working to boost access to care

Patient medical examination

Cryptococcal meningitis

Without treatment, deadly for thousands of people with advanced HIV

We’re working to improve access to life-saving treatments and developing an easier-to-use formulation

Girl with skin lesions on her nose

Cutaneous leishmaniasis

Leaves disfiguring, life-long scars that lead to severe social stigma

We’re working to develop safer, shorter treatments for this disabling disease

Doctor with young patient in hospital setting

Dengue

Rapidly spreading climate-sensitive disease with no specific treatment

We’re building a global partnership with dengue-endemic countries to develop a first treatment

Father walking in rural village with a cane and holding his son's hand

Filaria: river blindness

Lead to unbearable itching, disfiguring skin lesions, and even blindness

We’re working to develop a safe, effective, and affordable drug for the prevention and treatment of this debilitating disease

Young man standing in the street

Hepatitis C

Millions are left without treatment even though effective drugs exist

We’ve delivered a treatment as simple, safe, and effective as the best drugs available today – at a fraction of the cost 

Woman standing in front of her door house in a rural village in Sudan

Mycetoma

Often ends in amputation​, after people get infected from stepping on a thorn

We conducted the world’s first trial for an alternative to current treatments, which are toxic and difficult to administer

Mother holding her baby in her arms smiling

Paediatric HIV

Without treatment, half of children die before their second birthday

We’ve developed a strawberry-flavoured treatment to meet the needs of children long neglected by the global HIV response

Healthcare workers in a hospital

Pandemic Preparedness

The COVID-19 pandemic intensified global health inequalities

We’re bringing together partners and accelerating research to prepare for future viral pandemics in low-resource settings

Doctor diagnosing a man in a village with his hands on the man's neck

Sleeping sickness

Transmitted by the bite of a tsetse fly and causes severe neurological disorders

We delivered a revolutionary new drug to replace toxic treatments, and have ongoing trials to eliminate this disease

Girl looking over a fence

Visceral leishmaniasis

Is one of the world’s biggest parasitic killers, spread by the bites of sandflies

We’re working to develop a new generation of treatments to replace drugs that are painful, ineffective, and cause side effects

Chagas disease

Cryptococcal meningitis

Cutaneous leishmaniasis

Dengue

Filaria: river blindness

Hepatitis C

Mycetoma

Paediatric HIV

Pandemic Preparedness

Sleeping sickness

Visceral leishmaniasis

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