EU encourages development of children's medicines
The European Parliament today approved new regulations aimed at stimulating research into and development of medicines for children.
Sick children frequently have to take smaller doses of medicines designed for adults, although their organism absorbs them differently and there can be different side effects.
Few pharmaceutical companies produce drugs aimed specifically at children because the clinical trials are more difficult and take longer.
The new EU regulations extend the life of the patents for children’s’ drugs by six months to 15-and-a-half years to give pharmaceutical companies incentives to invest more.
A further six months of protection would, according to the European Commission, give companies extra profits.
The new regulations also cut administrative procedures in the drug development process. EU politicians also called for a special EU research program that would help adapt existing substances for children.
