Paediatric Formulation: Design and Development

The development of paediatric medicines can be challenging since this is a different patient population with specific needs. A medicine designed for use in paediatric patients must consider the following aspects: patient population variability; the need for dose flexibility; route of administration; patient compliance; excipient tolerability. For example the toxicity of excipients may differ in children compared to adults and children have different taste preferences. Globally about 75% of drugs do not carry regulatory approval for use in children; worldwide many medications prescribed for the treatment of paediatric diseases are used off-label and less than 20% of package inserts have sufficient information for treating children. This book provides an update on both state-of-the-art methodology and operational challenges in paediatric formulation design and development. It aims at re-evaluating what is needed for more progress in the design and development of age-appropriate treatments for paediatric diseases focusing on: formulation development; drug delivery design; efficacy safety and tolerability of drugs and excipients.