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NICHD Archive Note: The information in the Archives is provided for historical purposes only. |
There is a major need to integrate clinical pharmacology and disease-specific therapeutic issues—identification of similarities and differences in the etiology, diagnosis, pathophysiology, prognosis, and natural response to therapy—of diseases or conditions affecting children and adults. The NICHD and BPCA partly address this need through the IAPT.
The initiative focuses on identifying similarities and differences in diseases or conditions expressed in children and adults by studying:
- Etiology
- Diagnosis
- Diagnostic biomarkers
- Pathophysiology
- Outcome Measures/Endpoints
- Manifestation (Phenotypic Expression)
- Pharmacometrics
- Natural History
- Response to Therapy
- Extrapolation Issues
Asthma, psychiatry, and diabetes were chosen as prototype therapeutic areas for the IAPT, and working groups were established for each area in 2012. Chairs of the working groups convened at the 2012 Workshop on Advancing Pediatric Therapeutics (PDF 126 KB) to formally launch the initiative. An additional group was added later to work toward advancing the ontogeny of transporters in children. Outcomes for the working groups include identifying knowledge gaps and research needs between clinical pharmacology and disease-specific therapeutic issues.
The asthma working group's goal was to develop a white paper for publication. It accomplished this goal in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology's (JACI) January 2014 theme issue , which covered "asthma across the ages."
The diabetes working group had a similar goal and in 2016, published "Expanding Treatment Options for Youth with Type 2 Diabetes: Current Problems and Proposed Solutions: A White Paper from the NICHD Diabetes Working Group" in Diabetes Care.
Working Group to Advance Ontogeny of Drug Transporters in Children
This working group includes researchers dedicated to the study of drug transporters with the goal of promoting this area of research to determine their role in drug distribution and effects, including toxic effects. The specific objectives are to promote knowledge creation, develop a roadmap of research needs and priorities, and motivate other researchers from necessary disciplines.
Initial activities included compiling feedback received from experts about what research is currently being conducted and problems encountered in studying ontogeny of transporters/receptors.
The group's Literature Review subgroup developed a literature search strategy for the ontogeny of transporters in certain organs, using transporters identified by the International Transporter Consortium. This subgroup, which was further divided into three groups that addressed the ontogeny of transporters in the liver, intestine, and kidneys, published a white paper in 2015 in Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics.
The mission of the Biomarkers in Pediatric Therapeutics Special Interest Group is to pursue opportunities for strengthening cross-disciplinary pediatric biomarker research at NIH while innovating beyond existing investments. Its goals are to provide leadership, vision, and support to promote a strong body of pediatric biomarker research funded by NIH; and to collect, evaluate, and disseminate scientific information and funding opportunities for biomarker research in pediatric therapeutics at NIH. The group promotes trans-NIH funding announcements, hosts speakers, and support panels and minisymposia, national and international webinars, and group discussions.
For more information, visit Pediatric Clinical Research and Outcomes Interest Group.
The PFI is designed to look at all the factors that affect the development of pediatric drugs. The goals are to create a roadmap for removing/mitigating barriers to pediatric drug development and to connect researchers and experts in pediatric formulation to discuss issues and challenges that may stimulate further research in the field.
The PFI has four groups:
- Scientific, technical, and regulatory barriers for the development of pediatric formulations
- Taste, smell, and flavor research in infants and children
- Economic issues and partnerships
- Use and application of new drug delivery systems in pediatrics
The following are links to the minutes from past PFI meetings:
- November 1–2, 2011
Bolger Center, Potomac, MD
Meeting Minutes for Pediatric Formulations Initiative (PFI) Workshop November 2011 (PDF 474 KB) - December 6–7, 2005
Bethesda Marriott, Bethesda, MD
Meeting Minutes for Pediatric Formulations Initiative (PFI) Working Meeting December 2005 (PDF 250 KB)
The lack of a pediatric formulation was one consideration for prioritization because the lack of commercially available oral pediatric formulations is a continuing problem for children, parents, and pediatricians. Also, there is no coherent approach to the development of pediatric formulations.
The ideal pediatric dosage form would:
- Be orally dissolvable
- Be tasteless
- Have an appropriate dosage increment for the smallest infants
- Contain minimal amounts of inactive substances like fillers or preservatives
- Be stable in light, humidity, and heat
- Have the necessary release characteristics, as applicable
The Pediatric Formulations Platform uses NIH BPCA funds to fund FDA chemists' assessment of pediatric product formulations and produce an open-source, publicly available approach to pediatric oral formulations manufacturing.
The work includes five tasks:
- Perform an assessment of all commercially available products to determine which have pediatric formulations.
- Determine what technologies are publicly available, how these technologies have been used, and for what types of products.
- Use prototypical drug products and computational methods to distinguish their molecular structure through characteristics such as solubility, permeability, light sensitivity, pH instability, heat instability, hygroscopic properties, and bitterness.
- Determine the best formulations technology for specific drug categories based on information from tasks 1–3.
- Produce prototype batches of selected drug products.
The goal is to make these data publicly available as soon as possible.
As a first step, the Biopharmaceutics Classification System assessment of all commercially available products is archived as "Oral Formulations Platform—Reports 1 and 2." When further stages are completed, they will be posted.
- Oral Formulations Platform—Report 1 (PDF 748 KB)
- Oral Formulations Platform—Report 2 (PDF 1 MB)
- NICHD-Funded Research Finds Biological Basis for Children's Taste (PDF 334 KB)
- A Report from the Pediatric Formulations Task Force: Perspectives on the State of Child-Friendly Oral Dosage Forms (PDF 475 KB)
BPCA formed a working group to discuss the current state of hypertension epidemiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment in the pediatric population. Clinicians have grappled with the issue of treatment versus non-treatment for pediatric hypertension, and recent studies have shown that only a small percentage of children with hypertension are treated for the condition.
The working group published a white paper summarizing issues and gaps identified in this area and determining key areas for future research.
- Taylor-Zapata, P., Baker-Smith, C.M., Burckart, G., Daniels, S.R., Flynn, J.T., Giacoia, G.,…Zajicek, A. (2019). Research Gaps in Primary Pediatric Hypertension. Pediatrics, 143 (5) e20183517; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2018-3517
A working group meeting was held on September 25, 2017.
- Meeting Summary (PDF 68 KB)
- Meeting Recording (PDF 340 KB)
This collaboration was an interagency agreement between NICHD and NHLBI's PROP Network to investigate the molecular mechanisms that contribute to respiratory disease risk of premature neonates over the first year after birth.
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