The Pediatric Trials Network (PTN) is undertaking a groundbreaking study to assess the safety of commonly used off-patent medications when they are given to breastfeeding mothers. The study will track how different drugs are passed through breastmilk to determine dosing levels that are safe for both mom and baby. Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ...

Fifteen sites in states participating in the NIH Institutional Development Award (IDeA) program are being onboarded into the Pediatric Trials Network’s (PTN) POPS study of commonly used medications in children. The IDeA program aims to build research capacities in states that have historically received low levels of NIH funding by supporting research, faculty development, and infrastructure ...

  When treating gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) in obese kids, the common practice of dosing stomach acid blockers based on children’s weight could actually cause more harm than good, said Dr. Valentina Shakhnovich, investigator for the Pediatric Trials Network (PTN) and Associate Program Director for the Gastroenterology Fellowship Research Program at Children’s Mercy Hospitals in Kansas ...

The Pediatric Trials Network (PTN), with support from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, is conducting an interventional study to examine the safety and efficacy of sildenafil in treating bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) in premature infants. BPD is a common chronic lung disease that can affect premature newborns, often leading to ...

The Pediatric Trials Network (PTN) conducted a study in 2015 to capture anthropometric data on pre-term and full-term infants up to 90 days old. An article on the study, An Anthropometric Survey of U.S. Preterm and Full-Term Neonates, was published in the journal Annals of Human Biology last month. “Anthropometric data are invaluable for informing the ...

  In 2004, Dr. Ram Yogev, Director of the Section on Pediatric, Adolescent and Maternal HIV Infection at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, was invited to serve on an FDA advisory committee on anti-retroviral, anti-fungal and anti-tuberculosis drugs. As the only pediatrician on the committee, he was surprised to see that ...

Friday, November 17th marks World Prematurity Day. Part of the March of Dimes’ Prematurity Campaign, the event is designed to raise awareness of the problem of premature birth and to support ongoing efforts to reduce rates of premature birth in the United States and around the world. According to the March of Dimes, roughly 10 percent ...

The Pediatric Trials Network (PTN), with funding from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), recently completed a multicenter study of trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (TMP/SMX) to determine appropriate dosing for infants and children. The results of the study were published in the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy on Oct. 30. TMP/SMX is ...

Early this summer, Lucas,* a one-month-old infant born 9 weeks prematurely, was receiving routine respiratory support in the neonatal intensive care unit at the University of North Carolina Children’s Hospital when he suddenly developed a dangerous neck abscess. Upon testing, the infection was found to be caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteria. Staphylococcus infections ...

The Duke Clinical Research Institute and its strategic partners have been awarded a grant from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to establish a coordinating center for a Global Pediatric Clinical Trials Network (G-PCTN). The G-PCTN will support efficient pediatric clinical trials worldwide by developing scientific and operational infrastructure, fostering collaborative networks, sharing knowledge, ...