Drugs that work well in adults don’t always translate well for treating pediatric patients.
The problem has inspired clinicians such as the pediatric cardiologist Dr. Brian McCrindle at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto to work with the pharma industry on trials focused on pediatric patient populations and introduce newer agents to clinical practice. Traditionally, the process of selecting drugs for younger populations has been “somewhat imperfect and somewhat derived from experience in adult patients,” McCrindle said.
Most recently, McCrindle was the co-author of a preprint study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association investigating the use of rivaroxaban (Xarelto) from Janssen in patients who underwent a surgical procedure to correct a congenital heart defect.
Blood thinners such as rivaroxaban and aspirin — acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) — can reduce the risk of thrombosis and its potential to cause stroke or other devastating c…