Children

Children grow and mature throughout their childhood. Birth weight increases 50 percent in the first six weeks and doubles in the first four months. From a pharmacology perspective, childhood growth and maturation are major factors, and these and other specific characteristics of children must be considered by physicians and other health providers with regard to pharmacology.

Pediatric regulations for pharmacology products were implemented in the United States in 1997. Since then, pharmacology products specific to children have experienced a rebirth. Subsequently, similar legislation has been implemented in the European Union (2007) and in World Health Organization (WHO) initiatives; WHO created an essential medicines list for children in 2011. A search of newborn and infant clinical trials in early October 2011 had a total of 1,318 protocols ...