CHEN Zhe 1,2,3,4,5 , LI Siyu 1,2,3,4,6 , LI Hailong 1,2,3,4 , ZOU Kun 1,2,3,4 , ZENG Linan 1,2,3,4 , JIA Zhijun 1,2,3,4,5 , CHENG Guo 4,7,8 , TANG Yong 9 , ZHAO Shaoyang 9 , JIANG Yongmu 9 , ZHANG Lingli 1,2,3,4,10
  • 1. Department of Pharmacy, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, P. R. China;
  • 2. Evidence-Based Pharmacy Center, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, P. R. China;
  • 3. NMPA Key Laboratory for Technical Research on Drug Products in vitro and in vivo Correlation, Chengdu 610041, P. R. China;
  • 4. Key Laboratory of Birth Defects and Related Diseases of Women and Children, Sichuan University, Ministry of Education, Chengdu 610041, P. R. China;
  • 5. West China School of Pharmacy, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, P. R. China;
  • 6. West China School of Medicine, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, P. R. China;
  • 7. Department of Pediatrics, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, P. R. China;
  • 8. Laboratory of Molecular Translational Medicine, Center for Translational Medicine, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, P. R. China;
  • 9. School of Economics, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, P. R. China;
  • 10. Chinese Evidence-based Medicine Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, P. R. China;
ZHANG Lingli, Email: zhanglingli@scu.edu.cn
Children; Drug; Development; Production; Use; Across-sectional study
10.7507/1672-2531.202301089
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Objective To investigate the development, production and use of children’s drugs in Sichuan Province, analyze the problems existing in these links, and provide suggestions for ensuring that children’s needs for drugs are met. Methods The self-filling electronic questionnaire was used to investigate the production, procurement and use of children’s drugs in 14 pharmaceutical companies producing children’s drugs and 20 general hospitals with pediatric departments or children’s hospitals in Sichuan province. Results The 14 surveyed pharmaceutical companies reported that 116 children’s drugs were being developed or produced (75 first-class children’s drugs with exact medication information for children, 41 second-class children’s drugs only noted as children's discretionary reduction or use according to clinician’s instructions), out of which 109 (93.97%) drugs had been approved for marketing, 21 (18.10%) were national essential medicines and 76 (65.52%) were covered by national basic medical insurance. The dosage forms of first-class children's drugs were mainly tablets (28, 37.34%) and granules (19, 25.34%), while oral solution (3, 4.00%), syrup (5, 6.67%) and other dosage forms suitable for children were less. According to the surveyed results on the use of children's drugs in hospitals, there were 57 children’s drugs whose minimum use units needed to be manually divided into smaller ones on average in each hospital, and it was the most common operation pattern that pharmacists informed nurses, patients or patients’ family members of the dose splitting methods and then splitting drugs’ minimum use units by themselves. Conclusion There is a great demand for splitting minimum use units of drugs whose strength is too big for children in medical institutions, and some children’s drugs need to be developed and further modified to meet the clinical children’s drug needs. We should further increase investments and policy supports for the children’s drugs, promote children’s clinical trials, and encourage the research and development of children’s drugs.

Citation： CHEN Zhe, LI Siyu, LI Hailong, ZOU Kun, ZENG Linan, JIA Zhijun, CHENG Guo, TANG Yong, ZHAO Shaoyang, JIANG Yongmu, ZHANG Lingli. The development, production and use of medicine for children in Sichuan province: a across-sectional study. Chinese Journal of Evidence-Based Medicine, 2023, 23(5): 497-503. doi: 10.7507/1672-2531.202301089 Copy

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