Info can curb misuse of child-specific drugs

AN ESTIMATED 30,000 Chinese children a year could lose hearing ability because of misuse of drugs, and as many as 100,000 aged between 5 and 14 could succumb to curable and preventable diseases owing to the lack of child-specific medicines and proper treatment, according to information from the China center for the rehabilitation of deaf children. Beijing Times commented on Monday:

The misuse of medicines for children has long been a sore point in many countries, because their reactions can be a lot more serious than those in adults. Unlike adult-specific drugs, the medicines made exclusively for children have a limited market share and, hence, pharmaceutical companies feel less motivated to make them. That is why the United States administration provides favorable policies for pharmaceutical companies, such as the six-month exclusivity policy to ensure they add specific instructions on child dosage to their products.

Such an approach may be better than simply offering subsidies, but governments should do more than that to better protect children. For one, pharmaceutical companies should share clinical data on the reactions child-specific medicines can induce.