NETHERLANDS – European Medicines Agency’s (EMA’s) Pediatric Committee (PDCO) has elected Brian Aylward from Ireland as its new chair for a three-year mandate, the agency has announced on its website.

Dr Aylward takes over from Professor Koenraad Norga from the Federal Agency for Medicines and Health Products (FAMHP) in Belgium who has served as the PDCO chair for the last three years.

On his appointment, Dr Aylward said: “I am delighted and honored to have been appointed as the chair of the Pediatric Committee of the European Medicines Agency,’’

’’The PDCO has a pivotal role in advising decision-making bodies, both within and outside EMA, and other stakeholders about advances in pediatric medicine.

“I look forward to working with all these stakeholders to help ensure that effective, safe, and age-appropriate medicines are available for use in children and adolescents.”

Dr Aylward has been actively involved in various PDCO activities since 2010 when he was appointed as alternate for Ireland before becoming a committee member in 2013. He has been chair of the Formulations Working Group of the PDCO since 2014.

Before joining the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) in Ireland in 2008, he practiced as an anesthesiologist and intensive care medicine physician.

Prior to his appointment to the PDCO, he was a member of the Clinical Trials Facilitation Group at the Heads of Medicines Agencies (HMA).

Dr Aylward takes over from Professor Koenraad Norga from the Federal Agency for Medicines and Health Products (FAMHP) in Belgium who has served as the PDCO chair for the last three years.

The main role of the PDCO is to prospectively guide sponsors or companies on how to consider a medicine’s use in children during its development.

In this context, the committee assesses the content of pediatric investigation plans as well as applications for a full or partial waiver and for deferrals.

The PDCO will elect a new vice-chair at its meeting in September 2022.

Meanwhile, hundreds of young children around the world have developed severe cases of hepatitis with no obvious cause, leaving doctors baffled.

But two new studies reveal the potential culprits: a combination of genetic factors, lockdowns, and at least two viruses working together.

Doctors first noticed a strange cluster of hepatitis cases in young children in Scotland in April this year. By April 8, 60 cases were being investigated across Scotland, England, and Wales, mostly in children aged two to five.

As of July 8, the World Health Organization reported 1,010 probable cases of the liver condition in 35 countries and 22 fatalities—although the true number is likely to be higher. A third of the cases reported so far have been in the US.

As much as the etiology of the outbreak is yet unknown, Adenoviruses – which cause a wide range of illnesses, such as colds, fever, sore throats and pneumonia – have been “the most frequently detected pathogen” in cases of pediatric hepatitis.

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