Wicker, Reed Lead Call for Improved Data on Child Participation in NIH Clinical Health Trials
Press Release
U.S. Senators Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Jack Reed, D-R.I., today sent a letter with 24 of their Senate colleagues urging the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to improve data collection on children participating in NIH-funded clinical health trials.
NIH policy currently requires the inclusion of children in NIH-sponsored clinical trials unless there is reason to exclude them. However, NIH is not systematically tracking the ages of the children included in all of its clinical trials relevant to child health. This lack of data makes it difficult to determine whether children as a whole, or particular pediatric subpopulations, are underrepresented in federally-funded biomedical research. It also makes it difficult to determine how different pediatric subpopulations fare in these trials.
"The United States remains a global leader in biomedical innovations because of groundbreaking NIH research," Senator Wicker said. "Medical research is instrumental to answering some of the toughest questions of our time. Understanding how new therapies and treatments impact children could prove to be invaluable. Improved data collection and transparency by NIH would be an important step toward ensuring that children benefit from scientific advances funded by the federal government."
"Clinical research is critically important to our children's health and NIH must improve its data collection process to allow children to reap the benefits of important scientific advancements," said Senator Reed. "We need to ensure there is an appropriate amount of pediatric representation in these essential clinical trials so we can ensure there are effective treatments for children down the line."
In addition to Senators Wicker and Reed, the letter was signed by U.S. Senators Casey (D-PA), Markey (D-MA), Capito (R-WV), Sullivan (R-AK), Coons (D-DE), Ayotte (R-NH), Gillibrand (D-NY), Murphy (D-CT), Stabenow (D-MI), Warren (D-MA), Durbin (D-IL), Franken (D-MN), Feinstein (D-CA), Blumenthal (D-CT), King (I-ME), Brown (D-OH), Kirk (R-IL), Schatz (D-HI), Schumer (D-NY), Murray (D-WA), Baldwin (D-WI), Booker (D-NJ), Hatch (R-UT), and Boxer (D-CA).
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