Trials on child-friendly formulation of ivermectin in the offing

The research, being led by the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine (KCCR) of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), seeks to develop new formulations of ivermectin that can be safely used by children weighing less than 15 kilogrammes, broadly corresponding to children under five, who are currently excluded from the use of the drug.

Last Wednesday, September 23, representatives of the project’s eight partner organisations met in Accra for the consortium’s first in-person meeting, which brought together researchers, clinicians, pharmaceutical experts and public health specialists from Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the United Kingdom, Spain and Switzerland to coordinate the four-year clinical research programme aimed at generating evidence that could enable young children to be included in parasite control programmes.“The aim is not simply to establish whether ivermectin can be safely used in younger children, but to generate evidence strong enough to inform regulators, the World Health Organisation and national neglected tropical disease programmes can extend its indication to include children under 15 kg,” he said.