Clinical Trials in Children

The mission of the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform is to ensure that a complete view of research is accessible to all those involved in health care decision making. This will improve research transparency and will ultimately strengthen the validity and value of the scientific evidence base.
The aim of the site is to improve awareness and make it easier to access accurate, up to date, understandable information relevant to the conduct of clinical trials in children. It will thereby contribute to addressing the Millennium Development Goal of reducing child mortality.
Why perform clinical trials in children?
Children are a unique population with distinct developmental and physiological differences from adults. Clinical trials in children are essential to develop age-specific, empirically-verified therapies and interventions to determine and improve the best medical treatment available. For more information, visit Make medicines child size.
Ethical Implications
The ICTRP is committed to promoting the conduct of ethical and relevant clinical trials in children by improving access to guidelines, regulations and trial registration data. Specific ethical and clinical considerations must also be taken into account when designing, implementing and evaluating these clinical trials and their findings. Read more.