New drugs are being developed by pharmaceutical companies and clinical researchers belonging to the Paediatric Rheumatology International Trials Organisation (PRINTO) and the Paediatric Rheumatology Collaborative Study Group (PRCSG at www.prcsg.org). PRINTO and PRCSG are involved in revising protocols, case report forms, data collection, data analysis and data reporting in the medical literature.
Before your doctor can prescribe a new drug, it must be carefully tested to assess its safety and its ability to treat patients must be established in clinical trials. In general, development in children follows development in adults, so some drugs may be available only for adults at this point. With a growing number of drugs available, off-label use should occur less frequently. You may wish to help in the development of a new medicine by participating in a clinical trial.
Further information can be found on the following websites:
www.printo.itwww.pediatric-rheumatology.printo.it
www.clinicaltrialsregister.eu/
www.ema.europa.eu/ema/index.jsp?curl=pages/medicines/landing/pip_search.jsp&mid=WC0b01ac058001d129