Paediatric clinical pharmacology

The main task of paediatric pharmacology is to enable the effective and safe use of medicines. It is important to realise that a child reacts differently to medical treatment than an adult. It is therefore important to understand the interactions between the body and medicines in children and to adjust the dosages according to age.

Paediatric pharmacology and pharmacometrics contribute to a better understanding of these interactions. On the one hand, clinical studies are carried out in children, on the other hand, in experimental pharmacology/pharmacometry, drug properties are investigated using computer models and disease progression models are developed in order to describe drug effects on a disease as well as the effects of a disease on drugs. The Basel site offers exceptional opportunities for this with its academic and pharmaceutical networks, infrastructure and the third-party funding made available for this purpose.

A leading transnational research programme in the field of paediatric pharmacology and AI/pharmacometrics has been established in Basel. With targeted clinical studies and the use of innovative technology such as AI and pharmacometric computer models, the research group is committed to optimising dosages and reducing the proportion of off-label drugs. Off-label is the term used to describe the prescription of a drug outside of the Swissmedic authorised indication. Today, up to 60 per cent of all medicines are used off-label in children. This means that the medicine is used by a healthcare professional in a way other than that specified in the information for healthcare professionals.

Professor Marc Pfister's research focuses on promoting the integration-innovation-impact triangle, on the application of quantitative pharmacology and integrated AI/pharmacometrics, for example to develop and validate clinical decision support tools with the aim of optimising and individualising treatments for children. His research group has received several SNF grants as well as a BRCCH grant (OptiThyDose: Intelligent Digital Decision Support Tool to Personalise Dosing for Children with Thyroid Diseases - BRCCH). Professor Pfister also works closely with the Pharmaceutical Technology at the University of Basel to evaluate and optimise child-friendly dosage forms in clinical studies.

Dr Verena Gotta's SNSF-supported research projects are investigating pharmacokinetic biomarkers in children in collaboration with the Department of Biopharmacy at the University of Basel. This physiological-pharmacological understanding supports safe paediatric dosing and enables individual recommendations for dose adjustment in the event of interactions with other medicines.

Dr Gilbert Koch's SNSF-funded research projects focus on new AI approaches and machine learning to accelerate and automate pharmacometric modelling processes. To this end, so-called neural differential equations (so-called NODEs) are used, which learn the pharmacological mechanisms directly from the data and thus allow a semi-mechanistic, mathematical model to be created more quickly. This means that such computer models can be used more quickly in clinical practice and support clinical research in neonatology and paediatrics.