This article was written by Chiara Messina, Head of Programme Operations, Fondazione Penta ETS. It is taken from the Penta 2025 Annual Report.
In 2025, Penta continued to strengthen its role as a global leader in infectious disease research for pregnancy and child health populations. By driving multidisciplinary collaborations, Penta worked to address critical knowledge gaps and ensure that populations often excluded from clinical research remain central to advances in therapies and public health strategies.
A central priority has been to enhance coordinated research preparedness for future pandemics and emerging infectious threats. Through its participation in the BE READY NOW initiative, Penta has begun contributing scientific expertise to ensure that maternal and paediatric perspectives are fully integrated into the consortium’s research framework. As the consortium moved towards the official launch in January 2026, Penta has been actively supporting the integration of research priorities that address the unique clinical and ethical considerations relevant to studies involving pregnant people, infants, and children.
In parallel, 2025 marked the completion of the VERDI project, which focused on COVID‑19, mpox and pandemic preparedness, and established an enduring legacy through a set of recommendations addressed to research funders and policymakers. These outputs highlighted the persistent under-representation of pregnant people and children from infectious disease clinical research and provided evidence-based guidance to support the development of more inclusive research frameworks capable of generating robust data for these populations.
Penta’s research activities in Africa also reached an important milestone with the conclusion of the UNIVERSAL project. Within this programme, the UNIVERSAL1 clinical trial provided valuable pharmacokinetic, safety, and preliminary efficacy data to support the optimisation of antiretroviral therapy in children living with HIV. By characterising drug exposure and treatment responses in paediatric populations, the study contributed critical evidence to inform dosing strategies and therapeutic guidelines, ultimately supporting improved clinical management of paediatric HIV in resource-limited settings.
In the area of antimicrobial resistance, Penta continued to advance research through the SNIP-AFRICA project, which reached a major operational milestone in 2025 with the opening of recruitment for the NeoSep1 clinical trial. Sponsored by GARDP, this trial evaluates new antibiotic combinations against standard therapies for neonatal sepsis, aiming to generate evidence to guide treatment strategies while addressing the growing challenge of antimicrobial resistance.
Penta’s long-standing collaborations with Chang Mai University in Thailand continued to yield significant results in 2025, culminating in the successful completion of the THAI-CARES study. This enduring partnership has generated valuable insights into emerging infectious diseases and reinforced the shared commitment to advance research in priority areas such as RSV, ultimately supporting improved preparedness and evidence-based care for vulnerable populations.
Together, these activities contribute to a life‑course approach to infection research, spanning pregnancy, infancy, childhood and adolescence.
The progress achieved in 2025 demonstrates the continued expansion and diversification of Penta’s research portfolio. By fostering international collaboration and promoting the inclusion of maternal and paediatric populations in clinical research, Penta continues to generate the evidence needed to support safer, more effective, and more equitable healthcare for children and families worldwide.