First centre for paediatric clinical trials set up by Imperial

Imperial College London, in partnership with St Mary's Hospital, London, has set up the Paediatric Research Unit, the first in the UK devoted to paediatric clinical research.

Researchers at the unit will be designing therapies specifically for children rather than scaling down treatments created for adults.

“To create the best therapies for children we need to include them in our research,” said the head of the unit John Warner, speaking at the opening. “A lot of paediatricians’ work doesn’t have much of a scientific evidence base and we prescribe drugs by extrapolating from what we know about adult bodies. We have a desperate need to understand precisely how children’s bodies work so that we can custom-design therapies for them and their problems.”

Warner said that people should be assured that all research involving children would be carried out ethically and responsibly.

“If you think something might help children but you’re not certain, it is unethical not to do the research and find out.”

The first studies to be conducted at the £650,000 looking at the prevention of allergies using prebiotics in high risk infants, a treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a study looking at the use of a helium-oxygen mixture in intensive care and to treat acute bronchiolitis, and an investigation into the impact of various allergic problems on sleep and daytime behaviour.