European Medicines Agency's Paediatric Committee: Elects its first chairand vice-chair

27 September 2007

The European Medicines Agency's Paediatric Committee (PDCO) has elected Dr Daniel Brasseur, from Belgium, as chair, and Prof. Gérard Pons, from France, as vice-chair, with a three-year mandate, beginning on 26 September 2007.

Stressing the public health mandate of the PDCO, Dr Daniel Brasseur, former chair of the Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP), said, “the Paediatric Committee will have an important role in fostering the very pragmatic implementation of novel 'paediatric thinking'
on medicines across Europe”.

Speaking about the priorities of the PDCO, Dr Brasseur underlined, “the scientific assessment of paediatric investigation plans (PIPs), the building of a network of paediatric experts in various domains, establishing good relations with academic centres and learned societies, and the sound identification of the acute needs to treat children appropriately and pragmatic guidance for researchers and industry.”

Notes

1. Dr Daniel Brasseur is a physician, specialising in paediatric medicine. He is currently coordinator of medical assessors at the Belgian Federal Agency for Medicines and Medicinal Products. He is also Head of the Infantile Unit at the University Children's Hospital, Brussels, Belgium, and he is professor of nutrition in the Faculty of Medicine at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. His areas of expertise include nutrition, metabolic diseases and vaccinology. Daniel Brasseur served two terms (2001-2004; 2004-2007) as chair of the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP). He was also the chair of the former Paediatric Working Party (PEG) and member of the Vaccine Working Party (VWP).
2. Professor Gérard Pons is currently Head of the Department of Clinical Pharmacology at Cochin St Vincent de Paul Hospital, Paris, France, as well as professor of clinical pharmacology at the University Paris Descartes in Paris. In addition, he coordinates the French network for the investigation of medicinal products in children (RIPPS) and is the president of the Paediatric Working Party at the Agence française de sécurité sanitaire des produits de santé (Afssaps). His
   areas of expertise include developmental pharmacology and drug metabolism, methodology ofclinical studies and CNS drugs.
3. Photographs of Dr Daniel Brasseur and Prof. Gérard Pons are available from the EMEA PressOffice on request.

European Medicines Agency’s Paediatric Committee: Elects its first chairand vice-chair

Reference Number: EMEA/441880/2007