The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 274 No 7336 p168
12 February 2005

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Child medicine licensing plans inadequate

Proposals to encourage the licensing of medicines for children fail to meet their needs and will encourage paediatric use of risky and useless medicines, according to an association of European consumer organisations.

The Medicines in Europe Forum says that the plan, announced last year (PJ, 20 March 2004, p341), focuses on the commercial needs of drug companies by offering them incentives to extend the licensing of current medicines to include children. Instead, the group wants to see specific incentives to develop treatments for child illnesses for which there are currently no treatment options.

“While the draft regulation seeks to answer a true need, it will be necessary to begin by analysing the precise needs of European children and their care-givers and to define priorities,” the group says.