A target product profile is a document that describes the features of a product (such as a medicine) that a company is planning or developing. The document can include a wide range of information such as dosage, how the product will be administered (for example this could be a patient taking a medicine by mouth, or a hospital nurse giving the medicine as an injection), formulation, clinical studies, adverse reactions (unwanted harmful effects) and contraindications (situations when the product should not be used).
The target product profile is written by the company developing the treatment, and if it is begun early it can help keep their development work properly focused on the end goal. A target product profile can also be used as a basis for discussions between the company and those regulatory authorities that will assess the product for release to market.