July 31, 2010institute for pediatric innovation

thumbnail
Reformulation Research

Tailoring Drugs for Kids

February 14, 2008

Almost 40 years ago, pediatrician Harry Shirkey called children’s drugs the “therapeutic orphan” of the industry, and unfortunately that still holds true, says Stephen Spielberg, a pediatrician and 30-year veteran of the pediatric drug-development industry. As a rule of thumb, 80 percent of medications for children are not adequately tested. Why? Even after Clinton-era legislation to encourage more testing of drugs in pediatric patients, there is still a shortage of research. The trials are difficult to run, with poor returns on investment for industry. Outside of antibiotics and asthma meds, which are a large part of the kids’ market, the dosing of pediatric drugs remains mostly a guessing game. IPI Launched That’s why the Boston-area non-profit Institute for Pediatric Innovation was launched in 2006. And that’s why Spielberg just signed on to head up the institute’s five-year pediatric pharmaceutical reformulation program: to get to work doing the research that industry hasn’t…more...

No articles available

No articles available

No articles available


© 2010 ClinPage. All Rights Reserved.