New pediatric incentive proposal

Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.) announced Monday details of legislation he plans to introduce to reauthorize and expand incentives for pediatric testing of prescription drugs. Bond said the "Better Medicine for Children Act will extend the existing pediatric incentive program for five years, establish a research fund to perform pediatric studies on drugs that have lost patent protection, and create a new incentive to encourage pediatric studies in younger age groups sometimes left out of initial studies. He noted that of the 18 drugs for which new pediatric information has been published as a result of the current pediatric initiative, over half do not include information for children under two years of age. ...