conect4children

c4c is a European, collaborative network with the aim of simplifying the development of new drugs and other therapies for all children. The network consists of 35 academic and 10 industry partners as well as 500 affiliated partners.

The network is an opportunity to initiate clinical trials for children across Europe, considering the special needs for babies, children, young people and their families.

c4c aims at the successful conduct of paediatric clinical trials while addressing the challenges with their specific design and implementation. The network targets the coordination and delivery of high-quality clinical trials in multiple countries and multiple sites, in all paediatric age groups. This shall be achieved by using a Single Point of Contact (SPOC) in each country, collaboration with specialist networks and the use and promotion of innovative methodologies while considering the voice of children, adolescents and their families.

The active involvement of patients and parents/caregivers through participation in panels, assessment of patient documentation and discussions with involved parties, is one of the main goals of the project.

Patients and their carers have the chance to become c4c patient experts and contribute to the development of clinical trials based on their health status and personal experiences.

The c4c homepage offers an educational resource bank on patient involvement:

• information on medicine and tests for children e.g. the way the body processes medicine or how to prepare their child for a CT-scan
• execution of clinical trials explained for children and their carers
• parents’ rights and ethics e.g. explaining what an informed consent is or risk and benefits of clinical trials for children
• glossary of terms

Interested carers, patients, patient representatives or professionals of a patient organisation have the possibility to sign up here to receive invitations to participate in interviews, focus groups, online or face-to-face surveys or events with peers and researchers.

• contribute to the monitoring and evaluation of clinical trials
• offer trainings for industry and patients on PPI (Patient and Public Involvement)
• prepare a White Paper to highlight recommendations and suggestions on PPI
• create a newsletter for participants of the PPI database
• review advice requests on PPI
• provide input and guidance to ensure participation of parents/patient representatives
• give input to the development of educational materials addressed to patients and parents to educate them about paediatric clinical research
• disseminate and communicate the aims, objectives and results of the project

Find out more about the active involvement of patients, parents/carers or patient representatives in c4c in the brochure below:

Learn more about the c4c Multi-Stakeholder Meeting on Perinatal Asphyxia

Find more information on www.conect4children.org and www.imi.europa.eu

And on Social media:

This project has received funding from the Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 Joint Undertaking under grant agreement No 777389. The Joint Undertaking receives support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and EFPIA.

The communication reflects the author’s view and neither IMI nor the European Union, EFPIA, or any Associated Partners are responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.