China looks to guidelines for drugs prescribed to children

China has formed a committee to come up with a guide for ensuring the safety of drugs that are prescribed for children, seeking to assess how and why medicines are used and gather data for further study.

The National Health and Family Planning Center disclosed the pediatric drugs move in a brief announcement, which said the panel would conduct its work out of Beijing Children's Hospital.

Many drugs prescribed for children in China are not specific pediatric versions with doses adjusted ad hoc for age and body weight among other factors in practices that have concerned health authorities.

According to the notice, the committee is to be responsible for keeping an eye on the experiences children have with drugs given to them and to gather and maintain data about the medicines.

Finally, the panel was charged with what China Daily called "drafting a guide for children's drug use and enriching the data of children's medication."

- here's the story from China Daily