The MiniMox project, developing a paediatric formulation of moxidectin for neglected infectious diseases, held its first annual meeting online on 1 February 2022 to present and discuss project advancement and to prepare for the first annual report.

The MiniMox project is developing an alternative formulation of moxidectin for children and others unable to swallow the 2mg tablets that are currently available. Moxidectin is approved by the US FDA for treating people aged 12 and over who have river blindness (onchocerciasis), a neglected infectious disease caused by parasitic worms called Onchocerca volvulus. To improve childhood health and eliminate onchocerciasis, all age groups that can be infected should be included in elimination programmes. The development of a paediatric formulation of moxidectin for this purpose is the goal of this project.

During this first annual meeting, each of the seven work package leaders presented their work and progress. The work includes developing target product (paediatric formulation) characteristics, conducting a survey in Cameroon of end-user preferences for paediatric medicines and bench-top research and development of suitable formulations, followed by GMP-grade manufacturing of a selected formulation to be evaluated in a clinical bioequivalence study in Ghana.

The MiniMox Project is co-funded by EDCTP, the Luxembourg National Research Fund (LNRF) and Medicines Development for Global Health (MDGH).

Please visit the recently launched website for more information: https://minimox.squarespace.com/