GAP-f

The lack of appropriate paediatric medicines and formulations is hindering the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and universal health coverage and is putting children’s lives at risk.

Visit the GAP-f website

Read the GAP-f 2022-2024 strategy

What is GAP-f?


Global accelerator for paediatric formulations

GAP-f is a coordinated response to the lack of appropriate paediatric medicines. Through a global collaborative framework set-up to deliver fit-for-purpose solutions to provide better medicines to children in low and middle-income countries, the project promotes a faster, more efficient, and more focused approach to paediatric formulation development.

The Penta Foundation, as lead of the Clinical Research Working Group, is responsible, together with other paediatric clinical research networks from the group, for establishing when needed dosing, safety, and efficacy across all relevant weight bands for each product in the GAP-f portfolio. The Working Group members combine their strengths and experiences as they lead new studies related to the GAP-f portfolio and provide technical support for studies performed by the pharmaceutical industry. Penta relies on a fully functional network with expertise in multiple-disease areas, which clearly provides an advantage in terms of completion time frame and high standards.

Why is GAP-f needed?


Several challenges hamper the rapid development of paediatric formulations for children. The biology of children, differences in drug metabolism, the difference in dosing based on age and weight of children and the lack of data on drugs even those that have been used for a long time have been based on adult studies, this hinders the development of medication for children. GAP-f was created to respond to these and other influences on the paediatric treatment gap.

What is GAP-f’s goal?


The global HIV health community has made substantial progress to accelerate the development and uptake of better paediatric products for children living with HIV. To keep this momentum going, GAP-f has formalized cross-sector collaborations to enable accelerated development and availability of optimized treatment options for paediatric infectious diseases, such as HIV, tuberculosis, and viral hepatitis, ensuring children have accelerated access to optimal drug formulations.