Centre for Paediatric Pharmacy Research
About the Group
The Centre for Paediatric Pharmacy Research (CPPR), established in April 2002, is a fruitful collaboration between The School of Pharmacy, the Institute of Child Health and the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children (GOSH).
The mission of the Centre is to improve the health of children through interdisciplinary collaborative research which addresses questions central to medicines for children. In addition, the specialist resources of universities and hospitals nationwide are utilised collaboratively to provide a focus for the training of health care professionals in the optimum use of medicines for children.
The Centre hosts the Paediatric Psychopharmacology Clinical Research Group of the UK Mental Health Research Network (MHRN) and the Pharmacy and Pharmacology Clinical Study Group of the UK Medicines for Children Research Network (MCRN) Furthermore, the centre is the UK coordinating Centre of the FP6-funded Taskforce in Europe for Drug Development in the Young (TEDDY) .
The Centre is also a member of the newly-formed European Network of Centres for Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacovigilance (ENCePP) and MCRN London Local Research Network. The Centre also contributes to the MCRN formulation workstream and the European Paediatric Formulation Initiative.
The ultimate goal of the CPPR is to improve the use of medicines in clinical settings, hence translational research and supporting medicines for licensing are important parts of our research and development portfolio. In 2006, the CPPR set up Therakind Ltd to develop paediatric medicines for “Paediatric Use Marketing Authorisation”
The mission of the Centre:
- Improve the health of children through interdisciplinary collaborative research that addresses questions central to medicines for children.
- Understand the biological, genetic, developmental, environmental and social mechanisms underlying the effectiveness and safety of medicines for children.
- Develop new methodologies in advancing research of medicines for children.
- Increase research capacity through the provision of training in pharmaceutical science, clinical pharmacology and pharmacoepidemiology applied to children.
- Conduct translational research in order to bring medicines to the clinical use.
Research Themes:
Paediatric Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety
Theme Leader: Professor Ian Wong
Theme members: Dr Macey Murray, Dr Antje Neubert, Dr Paul Long, Dr Lynda Wilton, Miss Yingfen Hsia, Dr Joseph Standing, Professor Frank M C Besag, Dr Aung Soe and Mr Stephen Tomlin
PhD students: Ms Noor Almandil, Ms Aisha Elturki, Ms Asia Nasser Ali Rashed, Ms Noha Iessa
Clinical trials will always be an invaluable means of acquiring vital information about a drug; however these trials are not always practical due to technical, ethical and financial reasons. Therefore pharmacoepidemiology has huge potential to provide important information in paediatric drug safety and efficacy. The Centre has been conducting paediatric pharmacoepidemiological studies since it was established in 2002, and will continue to focus research in this area.
Examples of research project undertaken
Paediatric Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery
Theme Leader: Dr Catherine Tuleu
Team members: Dr Mine Orlu Gul, Smita Salunke (EuPFI Scientific manager), Usha Langam & Ms Chung Man Wan.
PhD students: Maria Carvhalo, Alexandra Bowles & Sejal Ranmal.
As stated in the EMA Reflection Paper on the Formulations of Choice for Children (2005), an ideal dosage form for paediatric patients of all ages should allow both safe and accurate dose administration. The EU paediatric regulation (2007) enforces paediatric investigation plans which include measures to adapt the way the medicine is presented (formulation) to make its use more acceptable in children. Our research outcomes in this field ties very much into this and translates into a pro-active involvement as academic mediator in between the children and their carers, the prescribers, the industry and the regulators. Our mission is clear and concrete: safer and better formulations for children The team is focusing on the prioritized areas in the field:
- Taste Masking and Taste Testing,
- Age Appropriateness of Formulations and Administration Devices or Aids,
- The Use of Unlicensed Medicines with emphasis on Extemporaneous Preparations
- Safety of Excipients.
Examples of research projects undertaken
Page last modified on 08 mar 12 11:31
