Best Pharmaceuticals for Children Act of 2002
Comments submitted by The Alliance for Human Research Protection
to The National Academy of Sciences
Committee of the Institute of Medicine on Clinical Research Involving Children
AHRP has been closely monitoring pediatric research trends since passage of the FDA Modernization Act of 1997. We believe that medications used in children should be thoroughly tested for safety, effectiveness and appropriate dose. But unlike adults who can exercise their autonomous right to informed consent, children who are enrolled in clinical trials are non-consensual human subjects. They should not, therefore, be made to assume the burden of testing possibly toxic drugs whose safety is unknown.