Children who are suffering from cancer are denied access to life-saving medications because of the European Union rules that allow drug firms to waive testing some drugs in pediatric trials, FOX News reports.
Scientists and specialists in childhood oncology led by Britain's Institute for Cancer Research (ICR) said changing the EU rules could extend or save many lives. "Many cancer drugs developed for adults could be effective in children if we were able to test them in clinical trials," said Louis Chesler, an ICR researcher and a pediatric oncologist at London's Royal Marsden hospital. As of late, pharmaceutical companies developing new cancer medicines can gain exemptions from carrying out expensive testing of those drugs in patients under the age of 18.
Doing so results in long delays before new drugs are approved for use among children. Worse, some are never licensed for pediatric use at all. "Kids get hand-me-downs in many areas of life. But cancer drugs should not be an area where kids get hand-me-downs," said Chesler. Experts lament that the current system is outdated because it is based on previous thinking about cancer as a disease specific to an organ rather than on latest scientific knowledge showing cancers are caused by genetic changes that take place in many parts of the body and in various types and ages of people.
"The current system is failing to provide children with access to new treatments that could add years to their lives," Alan Ashworth, ICR's chief executive said. "We're not blaming the EU legislation for this - but it needs to rapidly be modernized."
