Dosing in Children

Principles of biology and clinical pharmacology can guide drug dosing in children and identify the targets for drug development.1 Much is known about pharmacokinetics (PK) of drugs in neonates, children, and adults, but much less is known about pharmacodynamics (PD) (a recent PubMed search retrieved 4,202 references for “pharmacokinetic” but only 325 references for “pharmacodynamic” when combined with “pediatric” or “paediatric”). Therefore, the main challenge in drug development with regard to dosing in children is to understand whether pharmacodynamic behavior in children differs from that in adults. Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics (2010) 87 3, 367–370. doi:10.1038/clpt.2009.262