title: Paediatric clinical research from the perspective of hospital pharmacists from France and Canada.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare pharmacy support for paediatric research services in France and Canada and to describe the perception of pharmacists and rank the paediatric clinical research issues.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a cross-sectional descriptive study. All paediatric hospitals from Canada and the main hospitals from France were contacted. A survey was conducted from May-September 2012. Descriptive statistics were performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results from 11 paediatric hospitals in Canada (11/12, 92%) and 11 (11/18, 61%) in France were obtained. There was a similar number of ongoing paediatric clinical trials per hospital in France versus Canada (38 (10-81) versus 20 (4-178)). A lower number of pharmacists per hospital was observed in France (17 (11.5-35) versus 45 (18.9-76.8)), but a similar number of pharmacists were assigned to clinical trials (1.5 (1-3) versus 1.9 (0.2-17.4)). Institutional protocols represented the majority of paediatric clinical trials in France (61% (14-100) versus 25% (0-100)). Similar pharmacy support services were offered, but the majority of French respondents also offered help for institutional protocol development (91 versus 50% P = 0.063). The main issues associated with paediatric clinical research were absence of financial interest from the pharmaceutical industry, prohibitive cost versus profit ratio, small patient cohorts and the non-availability of the appropriate drug formulations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Difficulties related to pharmaceutical compounding were identified as the main hindrance to paediatric clinical research; particular attention should be paid to these details when setting up a paediatric trial.
authors.affiliation: Pharmacy Department Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sainte Justine and Pharmacy Practice Research Unit, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: Aurélie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Guérin
authors.forename: Cynthia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tanguay
authors.forename: Denis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lebel
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Prot-Labarthe
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Bourdon
authors.forename: Jean-François
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Bussières
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D035843:Biomedical Research; D002170:Canada; D002648:Child; D002662:Child Health Services; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003625:Data Collection; D005602:France; D006801:Humans; D010372:Pediatrics; D010595:Pharmacists / Q000523:psychology*; D010607:Pharmacy Service, Hospital
keywords: Canada; France; clinical research; hospital pharmacist; paediatrics