Paediatric formulations in practice

It has been internationally recognised that children are at risk when they are administered unsuitable medicines. In many cases, the only medicines available have not been clinically tested for safety, efficacy and quality in relation to the age group for which they are used. Problems resulting from a lack of suitably adapted medicines for children include inaccurate dosing, increased risk of adverse reactions (including death), ineffective treatment (under-dosing), unavailability to children of therapeutic advances (modified-release forms) and extemporaneous formulations for children that may exhibit poor or inconsistent bioavailability, low quality and low safety. 

This chapter will discuss drug handling in paediatric practice, general considerations in extemporaneous dispensing for children, the suitability of excipients, and the potential of the main administration routes and corresponding dosage forms in paediatrics. 

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Tuleu C. Paediatric formulations in practice. In Costello I, et al., eds. Paediatric Drug Handling. London Pharmaceutical Press, 2007. 

This new textbook, not least because it deals with the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of drugs and formulations in children of different ages, also provides a timely discussion of pharmacogenomics and addresses the real problem of medication errors in paediatric practice, often caused by the need to manipulate adult dose forms to deliver drugs to very young people. There are many challenges in the formulation of established, new and orphan drugs for use in paediatric... 

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