The non-profit Pediatric Praziquantel Consortium is a unique international public-private partnership with the primary objective to develop a new pediatric formulation of praziquantel to treat young children (<6 years) suffering from schistosomiasis.
The Consortium was established in July 2012 by Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, Astellas, Swiss TPH and Lygature, and beginning of 2014 Farmanguinhos and Simcyp joined the Consortium as full partners.

The Pediatric Praziquantel Consortium uses an innovative R&D operating model that builds new partnerships as needed and shares development risks, with contributions to the Consortium made on a contract basis. This is designed to ensure rapid development of a pediatric praziquantel (PZQ) formulation, suitable for treating schistosomiasis in preschool age children (from 3 months to 6 years old). Emphasis has been placed on making the most of joint public/private resources.