📋 Tender Overview
PROJECT ID
110928
TOTAL FUNDING
CAD 999,400.00
PROJECT STATUS
Active
DURATION
24 months
Description:Africa continues to experience recurrent outbreaks of high-consequence infectious diseases such as mpox, Lassa fever, Ebola and yellow fever, which place immense pressure on health systems and pose serious public health threats. Therapeutics or drugs to treat these conditions are rarely available across the continent and, in many cases, may not exist at all. Developing new drugs through conventional methods typically takes 10 to 15 years, demands significant financial investment and carries a high risk of failure. Developing new therapeutics for these diseases is a low priority for most pharmaceutical companies. In the context of fast-moving outbreaks, such prolonged timelines and high costs are incompatible with the urgent needs of affected populations. Therapeutic repurposing, which involves identifying new applications for existing drugs, presents a potentially faster and more cost-effective alternative.
This project supports the establishment of a continental therapeutic repurposing research platform. This Africa-led initiative will serve as a clinical trial network that integrates pharmacovigilance, translational research and regulatory science. The platform will focus on nine priority pathogens through multi-country trials, generate safety and efficacy data tailored to African populations and enhance the continent’s capacity for rapid clinical research deployment during outbreaks. A gender-responsive approach will be embedded throughout, ensuring the inclusion of women in trials where appropriate, conducting sex-disaggregated data analysis and addressing socio-cultural barriers to female participation. The initiative will also promote equal access for women scientists to leadership roles, training programs and authorship opportunities while strengthening pharmacovigilance systems to monitor gender-specific adverse events.
Ultimately, the initiative aims to deliver at least three repurposed therapeutics ready for regulatory consideration and to train approximately 80 scientists and researchers, with at least half being women.
