Children dying for lack of child-sized drugs: WHO

Children dying for lack of child-sized drugs: WHO
A health worker vaccinates a child against measles at the Mutendere clinic in Lusaka July 9, 2007, during the launch of a five-day measles immunization campaign by the Zambian ministry of Health and the World Health Organization. (Mackson Wasamunu/Reuters)LONDON (Reuters) - Children are dying for lack of drugstailored to their needs, according to the World HealthOrganization (WHO), which launched a global campaign onThursday to promote more research into child medicine.
More than half the drugs currently used to treat childrenin the industrialized world have not been specifically testedon youngsters, even though they metabolize medicinesdifferently to adults.
As a result, clinicians lack clear guidelines on the bestdrug to use and often have to guess at the correct dose.
The problem is even worse in developing countries whereprice remains a major barrier and 6 million children die eachyear from treatable conditions.
In the case of HIV/AIDS, the few existing pediatrictherapies developed for children generally cost three timesmore than adult ones.
In a bid to address the problem, the WHO has drawn up thefirst international List of Essential Medicines for Children,containing 206 products deemed safe for children that tacklepriority conditions.
"But a lot remains to be done. There are priority medicinesthat have not been adapted for children's use or are notavailable when needed," said Dr Hans Hogerzeil, the U.N.agency's director of medicines policy and standards.
Medicines that need to be adapted to children's needsinclude many antibiotics, as well as asthma and pain drugs. TheWHO also wants more research and development of combinationpills for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
The agency is building an Internet portal linking toclinical trials carried out in children and will launch a Website with the information early next year.
Testing medicines on children has always been a vexedissue, since good ethical practice requires informed consentfrom people participating in clinical trials, which isdifficult to obtain in the case of children.
As a result, research-based drug companies have been waryof developing child-friendly medicines and generics companieshave been slow to produce them at lower cost.
In an attempt to tackle the issue, both Europe and theUnited States now have special rules offering extended patentprotection for drugs that have been tested on children.
Harvey Bale, director general of the InternationalFederation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Associations, saidsuch measures were starting to make a difference.
Between 1990 and 1997 only 11 products were studied inchildren in the United States but in the last 10 years thetotal has jumped to 125. Research is also picking up in Europe.
GlaxoSmithKline Plc said on Thursday it had won Europeanapproval for a new scored-tablet formulation of its combinationHIV/AIDS drug Combivir for treating children.
(Editing by Louise Ireland and Quentin Bryar)