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Published in: BMC Medicine 1/2022

Open Access 01-12-2022 | Chloroquin | Research article

Systematic evaluation of the pre-eclampsia drugs, dietary supplements and biologicals pipeline using target product profiles

Authors: Annie R. A. McDougall, Roxanne Hastie, Maya Goldstein, Andrew Tuttle, Stephen Tong, Anne Ammerdorffer, A. Metin Gülmezoglu, Joshua P. Vogel

Published in: BMC Medicine | Issue 1/2022

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Abstract

Background

The Accelerating Innovation for Mothers (AIM) project established a database of candidate medicines in research and development (R&D) between 2000 and 2021 for five pregnancy-related conditions, including pre-eclampsia. In parallel, we published target product profiles (TPPs) that describe optimal characteristics of medicines for use in preventing/treating pre-eclampsia. The study objective was to use systematic double screening and extraction to identify all candidate medicines being investigated for pre-eclampsia prevention/treatment and rank their potential based on the TPPs.

Methods

Adis Insight, Pharmaprojects, WHO international clinical trials registry platform (ICTRP), PubMed and grant databases were searched (Jan–May 2021). The AIM database was screened for all candidates being investigated for pre-eclampsia. Candidates in clinical development were evaluated against nine prespecified criteria from TPPs identified as key for wide-scale implementation, and classified as high, medium or low potential based on matching to the TPPs. Preclinical candidates were categorised by product type, archetype and medicine subclass.

Results

The AIM database identified 153 candidates for pre-eclampsia. Of the 87 candidates in clinical development, seven were classified as high potential (prevention: esomeprazole, l-arginine, chloroquine, vitamin D and metformin; treatment: sulfasalazine and metformin) and eight as medium potential (prevention: probiotic lactobacilli, dalteparin, selenium and omega-3 fatty acid; treatment: sulforaphane, pravastatin, rosuvastatin and vitamin B3). Sixty-six candidates were in preclinical development, the most common being amino acid/peptides, siRNA-based medicines and polyphenols.

Conclusions

This is a novel, evidence-informed approach to identifying promising candidates for pre-eclampsia prevention and treatment — a vital step in stimulating R&D of new medicines for pre-eclampsia suitable for real-world implementation.
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Metadata
Title
Systematic evaluation of the pre-eclampsia drugs, dietary supplements and biologicals pipeline using target product profiles
Authors
Annie R. A. McDougall
Roxanne Hastie
Maya Goldstein
Andrew Tuttle
Stephen Tong
Anne Ammerdorffer
A. Metin Gülmezoglu
Joshua P. Vogel
Publication date
01-12-2022
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Medicine / Issue 1/2022
Electronic ISSN: 1741-7015
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-022-02582-z

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