Universities adapt medication to children’s needs

According to De Artsenkrant, children are too often seen simply as small adults when it comes to medication. More than half of the children’s medicines were not examined through clinical studies with patients in the specific age group for which they are meant, writes the magazine. With most prescriptions, the dose is adjusted to the age of the patient by taking the weight of the child into account. Doctors thus have to take on the role of pharmacologist by making their own calculations.

In 2007, the European Union introduced a new regulation, stipulating that new medicines and ways of administering existing medication first have to be tested in children via a detailed research plan adjusted to paediatric needs. “Because the paediatric market is much smaller than the market for adults, medicines are tested too often in a study design for adults,” said Vande Walle. “This means there is no specific analysis of potentially dangerous side-effects for children.”

As the body of a child is not completely developed, it is more vulnerable than that of an adult. Children sometimes also have difficulties with swallowing certain medicines or taking medicines several times a day. This can have an effect on the working and side-effects of medication.

With the financial support of the Flemish government’s agency for innovation through science and technology (IWT), the consortium of universities will bring together the fragmented expertise for research into paediatric medication.

“A transparent knowledge of safe medicines and their administering modalities is lacking today,” said Vande Walle. “In short: The current regulation of the European Medicines Agency and the American Food and Drug Administration does not meet the needs of children.”

In the long term, with the acquired knowledge, the consortium will provide advice to national and international developers of regulations so clinical tests for children of different ages can be optimised.

Photo: Ingimage