Glossary
Development Pipeline Phases
- Discovery and Early Development: known and potential biological targets for which compounds, and eventually products, have the capability of being developed and early stage leads with known biological targets
- Biological target: the biological entity to which a pharmaceutical compound is directed to
- Pre-Clinical & Clinical Development: products that have begun pre-clinical research and extends through those in clinical studies and regulatory review
- Limited Market Availability: selection of products already marketed in at least one country and/or have potential for wider distribution in low and middle-income countries
For more information about the Development Pipeline, read the summary on the About page.
Calliope Search Filters
These search filters allow you to refine your search results of the database entries.
- Active Development
- Active: entries on which there is current work
- Inactive: entries that are stalled in the development pipeline. Note: Calliope is not intended to be exhaustive in this category
- Unknown: entries for which status is unknown
- Delivery Type
- Barrier: prevents sperm from entering the uterus
- Fallopian Tube: clips or other barriers that are put in or on the fallopian tubes
- Injectable: an injection, often intramuscular (IM) or subcutaneous (SC)
- Intrauterine: a small device inserted inside the uterus, often T-shaped
- Oral: taken by mouth
- Other: a delivery system not described by any other category (e.g., microneedles or microarray patch)
- Subdermal: placed under the skin, often polymer capsules or rods
- Testicular: preventing sperm from leaving the testicles
- Transdermal: delivered continuously through the skin, often as an adhesive patch
- Vaginal Gel: a film that is placed on or near the cervix by insertion into the vagina
- Vaginal Ring: a small, flexible ring that is worn inside the vagina
- Vaginal, Other: a vaginal method that is not a gel or ring
- Vas Deferens: interferes with sperm transport in the vas deferens, which carries sperm from the testis
- Duration Type
- Emergency: used after unprotected intercourse to prevent pregnancy
- Long-acting: requires administration once per year or less frequently
- Pericoital: used directly before intercourse to prevent pregnancy
- Permanent: irreversible forms of contraception
- Short-acting: used or administered more than once per year
- Developer: the organization(s) researching and developing the entry, including nonprofits, pharmaceutical companies, universities, donors and funders, and other groups in contraceptive R&D
- User: the sex of the expected or intended user. Note: this filter is made permanent in "table view"
- Hormonal: whether the entry is hormonal or non-hormonal. Hormonal includes entries containing or targeting hormones involved in the regulation of the HPG axis (the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis, the hormonal communication between the brain and ovaries/testes) including estrogens, progestins, androgens, gonadotropins (FSH or LH) or gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH). Note: this filter is made permanent in "table view"
- Development Stage: further specifies the Development Pipeline Phase described above. For more information, see the About page.
- Lead Optimization: a process in which a candidate drug is refined into a safer, more useful, or more marketable agent
- Pre-Clinical: studies involving animals or in vitro testing of a drug or device before a human trial
- Phase I: clinical trials to assess the safety of a drug or device; designed to determine the effects of the drug or device on humans and investigate side effects that occur
- Phase II: clinical trials to test the efficacy of a drug or device; can last from several months to two years, and involves up to several hundred patients
- Phase III: clinical trials involving randomized and blinded testing in several hundred to several thousand patients; provides a more thorough understanding of the effectiveness of the drug or device, the benefits, and the range of possible adverse reactions
- Regulatory: the process of obtaining regulatory approval to be sold and marketed (varies by country)
- Marketed: received regulatory approval and is available on the market
- Target Validation: a process that proves a biological molecule has a direct role in a disease progression, suggesting it can be a suitable target to develop a new drug
- Compound ID/Selection: the process of identifying, optimizing, and selecting a lead compound to target a validated target
- SRA/WHO PQ Approved (Stringent Regulatory Authority/World Health Organization Prequalified Approved): recent approval from either a stringent regulatory authority (SRA, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, etc.) and/or the World Health Organization Prequalification program, indicating that it is up to a certain standard to be registered in a country but is not yet widely distributed
- Target Identification: an early stage of research searching for a biological target or pathway
- Prototype Development: the process of developing a working model of the product to be revised and perfected in the final form
- Potential MPT (Multipurpose Prevention Technology): whether a product is a potential MPT, a product that allows users to address multiple sexual and reproductive health issues with a single product (i.e. contraception, HIV, and STIs)
- API (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient): the chemical ingredient in a pharmaceutical drug that is biologically active and causes the contraceptive effect