Paediatric clinical research from the perspective of hospital pharmacists from France and Canada

Abstract

Key findings Results from 11 paediatric hospitals in Canada (11/12, 92%) and 11 (11/18, 61%) in France were obtained. There was a similar number of ongoing paediatric clinical trials per hospital in France versus Canada (38 (10-81) versus 20 (4-178)). A lower number of pharmacists per hospital was observed in France (17 (11.5-35) versus 45 (18.9-76.8)), but a similar number of pharmacists were assigned to clinical trials (1.5 (1-3) versus 1.9 (0.2-17.4)). Institutional protocols represented the majority of paediatric clinical trials in France (61% (14-100) versus 25% (0-100)). Similar pharmacy support services were offered, but the majority of French respondents also offered help for institutional protocol development (91 versus 50% P = 0.063). The main issues associated with paediatric clinical research were absence of financial interest from the pharmaceutical industry, prohibitive cost versus profit ratio, small patient cohorts and the non-availability of the appropriate drug formulations. Objectives To compare pharmacy support for paediatric research services in France and Canada and to describe the perception of pharmacists and rank the paediatric clinical research issues. Methods This was a cross-sectional descriptive study. All paediatric hospitals from Canada and the main hospitals from France were contacted. A survey was conducted from May-September 2012. Descriptive statistics were performed. Conclusions Difficulties related to pharmaceutical compounding were identified as the main hindrance to paediatric clinical research; particular attention should be paid to these details when setting up a paediatric trial.