Experts call for child-friendly drugs to boost flu prevention and control

Vaccination and appropriate anti-viral medication are the most effective measures for flu protection and control, especially for children, local medical experts said, while calling for more child-friendly medicines with pediatric dosages of flu medicine in China, to boost clinical treatment of children with the disease.

Influenza is an acute respiratory disease caused by the flu virus. It infects about 5 to 10 percent of adults and 20 to 30 percent of children in the world annually, causing over 5 million serious cases and up to 650,000 deaths. There are about 88,000 flu-related deaths in China each year.

Children are at high-risk of catching flu and the infection rate can be 50 percent in the peak disease season. Children between 5 and 9 years old have the highest infection rate.

Among those hospitalized for flu in China, most are children younger than 15 years old and in some of them, the illness can develop into a serious condition. Respiratory complications and flu-related brain disease or encephalitis are the major flu-induced cause of death for children.

With the start of the new semester and peak season, flu prevention and control are an annual challenge.

In addition to flu vaccination, timely anti-viral treatment is important to prohibit virus replication, relieve symptoms, and speed recovery.

"Compared with adult patients, children have a longer disease duration, which imposes a higher risk of the virus spreading in schools, kindergartens and families," said Dr Zeng Mei from the Children's Hospital of Fudan University. "Effective anti-viral medicine for children is essential."

However, medicine for children is in short supply in China. Among the 3,500 dosage forms, drugs with pediatric dosages account for less than 1.7 percent and 45 percent of medicine for children has no exact dosage instruction. About 80 percent of medicines are dispensed from adult medicines manually.

In clinical practice, about 43 percent of children have difficulty taking medicines, as most children's medicine is in pill form or has an unpleasant taste.

"The national government has issued policies to encourage and guide the development of medicines catering to children's conditions in order to improve the dosage accuracy and rationality, as well as children's compliance," said Dr Wang Xiaoling from the Beijing Children's Hospital.

The new innovative influenza drug Baloxavir Marboxil for Suspension from Roche is specially designed for children. The strawberry-flavored medicine can be accurately administered by parents according to the child's weight. A patient also needs to take the medicine only once during the entire course of the disease.