The development of medications for children presents unique challenges that test the ingenuity of investigators and industry in their search for drugs that are safe, effective – and can be taken by children. One of the most telling challenges relates to palatability. Children – especially under the age of 5 – usually require medication to be in a liquid form, and as medications are typically bitter, children may find this to be, as one might say, a difficult thing to swallow. While this area has been historically understudied, recent work has clearly established that this is an important concern with clear implications for adherence and, ultimately, therapeutic efficacy.1–3

Guffon et al4 describe a series of studies exploring a …