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Drug therapy
Review
Paediatric clinical pharmacology in the UK
  1. Imti Choonara,
  2. Helen Sammons
  1. Academic Unit of Child Health, University of Nottingham, Derbyshire Children's Hospital, Derby, UK
  1. Correspondence to Emeritus Professor Imti Choonara, Academic Unit of Child Health, The Medical School, University of Nottingham, Derbyshire Children's Hospital, Uttoxeter Road, Derby DE22 3DT, UK; imti.choonara{at}nottingham.ac.uk

Abstract

Paediatric clinical pharmacology is the scientific study of medicines in children and is a relatively new subspecialty in paediatrics in the UK. Training encompasses both the study of the effectiveness of drugs in children (clinical trials) and aspects of drug toxicity (pharmacovigilance). Ethical issues in relation to clinical trials and also studies of the pharmacokinetics and drug metabolism in children are crucial. Paediatric patients require formulations that young children in particular are able to take. The scientific evidence generated from clinical trials, pharmacokinetic studies and studies of drug toxicity all need to be applied in order to ensure that medicines are used rationally in children.

  • Pharmacology
  • Toxicology
  • Evidence Based Medicine

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

https://doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2014-306853

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