Joint EFGCP & DIA Better Medicines for Children Conference

The Paediatric Conference “Better Medicines for Children” is an annual event jointly organised by EFGCP and DIA with a focus on new developments in children medicine.
In 2018, the event is proudly brought to the public under the name of “Better Medicines for Children Conference, From Development to Access” by the EFGCP Children Medicines Working Party in collaboration with DIA and Regulators with the aim to take stock of the progress achieved after 10 years of Paediatric Regulation and, to move the discussion toward the experience of patients.
It provides a unique platform where all the stakeholders involved in the process, from research to treatment of children diseases, including HTA and payers, as well as patients are invited to share updates in the field and discuss challenges related to the development of paediatric medicines.

The intention of this year event is to shade light on what could be done to optimise children’s access to new medicines. In the context of this conference, “access” can be broadly defined as :

1. Inclusion of paediatric patients into clinical trials,
2. Health authority approval of a new medicine and,
3. Children’s access to a medicine that has been approved by regulators.

The unique programme of the 2018 event gives a new perspective over current status and developments in the paediatric treatment arena by addressing the three access perspectives.

In the opening, the conference will benefit of keynotes from Francoise Grossetête, Member of the European Parliament (France) and Florian Schmidt from DG SANTE, European Commission, followed by addresses from key speakers representing EMA, FDA, National Authorities, healthcare professionals, clinical researchers and patients.

Interactive breakout sessions will allow all participants to actively engage in the discussion to identify innovative solutions to address access issues specific to paediatric subpopulations, such as adolescents, or neonates. A Q&A session with members of the EMA Paediatric committee (PDCO), moderated by Dr Dirk Mentzer (PDCO chair) will help audience to understand PDCO's specific activities and priorities, and to further address clarifying questions to PDCO members.
A panel discussion held by patients and parents will highlight the priorities from a societal perspective and enable participants to reflect on the goals of paediatric research activities. Stakeholders recognize that more treatment access can be achieved by accelerating development of new medicines. Current delays in clinical trial conduct relating to recruitment difficulties will be addressed, e.g. by optimising the number of children needed for clinical trials, or recruitment strategies.

Information on constructive multi-stakeholder collaborations, which were set up to address the perceived long-term gaps will be provided; an opportunity to understand further what could help in fostering paediatric development and children’s access to new medicines. The conference will end with a panel discussion to explore what needs to be further achieved to meet the specific goal of, increasing children’s access to new treatments.

NEW: By means of a poster session, the conference will also show case some best practice examples of paediatric research & developments that address unmet medical needs in children and that have been successfully developed under the EU Paediatric Regulation.
The presenting authors of the winning posters will have the possibility to publish an abstract of their work in “Therapeutic Innovation & Regulatory Science” magazine.