Two Decades of TEDDY Network: Shaping the Future of Paediatric Research in Europe
Over the past 20 years, TEDDY Network has played a key role in advancing paediatric research across Europe, contributing to the development of medicines and medical devices tailored to children while promoting high ethical standards and patient-centred approaches.
TEDDY Network was established between 2005 and 2010 as a Network of Excellence under the European Union’s Sixth Framework Programme (FP6), with the objective of promoting research and development of medicines specifically tailored for children. On this basis, its activities continued between 2011 and 2017 through the GRiP project, which focused on strengthening paediatric research by developing global infrastructure and providing specialised training.
From 2017 onwards, TEDDY Network further expanded its role across major European initiatives. It contributed to the PedCRIN (Paediatric Clinical Research Infrastructure Network, 2017-2020) project, supporting the development of a coordinated European infrastructure for multinational paediatric clinical trials, ensuring high-quality and ethical standards, ID-EPTRI (2017-2024) preparatory project, supporting the design of the European Paediatric Translational Research Infrastructure, and c4c (conect4children, 2018-2025) project, which aimed to streamline paediatric clinical trials, and participated as a Partner in the EJP RD (European Joint Programme on Rare Diseases, 2019-2024), an initiative designed to strengthen the research ecosystem for rare diseases by fostering collaboration, innovation, and scientific progress for individuals affected by rare conditions.
In 2025, TEDDY Network reached another important milestone by becoming an official member of the European Paediatric Transnational Research Infrastructure (EPTRI AISBL). The initiative aims to establish a comprehensive research infrastructure capable of supporting the development of medicines, therapies and medical devices for children across the entire research cycle, from preclinical studies to clinical trials.
Advancing Research through European Projects
Currently the TEDDY Network is actively involved in EU‑funded projects, whose timelines extend from 2024 to 2031, reflecting a growing commitment to advancing paediatric research across Europe:
INVENTS (January 2024 – December 2028 – HORIZON-HLTH-2023-IND-06-04; GA No. 101136365), a project designed to improve clinical drug development for small populations, including paediatric and rare disease groups, through innovative methodologies based on in silico models and real-world data. TEDDY Network contributes its expertise in ethical and regulatory domains and supports the establishment of an advisory paediatric Patient Expert Group (PEG) to collect feedback and engage young participants in research involving in silico methods and real-world data.
OrphaDev4Kids (July 2024 – June 2027 – EU4H-2023-PJ; GA No. 101161377;) addresses the development of orphan medical devices for the paediatric population. TEDDY Network contributes expertise in ethical and regulatory domains and supports the creation of a Paediatric Expert Committee (PEC) to collect patient feedback.
ERDERA (September 2024 – August 2031 HORIZON-HLTH-2023-DISEASE-07-01; GA No. 101156595) aims to support patients with rare diseases by improving prevention, diagnosis, and treatment across Europe. The project also seeks to develop new methods and diagnostic pathways. Within this framework, TEDDY Network advises regulatory requirements and procedures related to clinical trials and contributes to the training of patients and young researchers in the fundamentals of rare disease research.
These projects highlight the scope and continuity of TEDDY Network’s contribution to paediatric research, which embraces complementary fields from drug development to medical devices and rare diseases while maintaining a strong focus on ethics, regulation and the meaningful involvement of young patients.
Today, after two decades of growth and collaboration, TEDDY Network is firmly established as a leading European network in paediatric research. Building on this foundation, the organisation is now positioned to broaden its mission by promoting an integrated approach across the entire paediatric research continuum.
Strengthening Institutional Partnerships
A key turning point came in 2017, when TEDDY Network became an independent, not-for-profit, non-governmental organisation. This transition enabled the network to further expand its activities and governance structure, including the creation of Young Patient Advisory Groups (YPAGs) and the TEDDY KIDS Network, embedding young patients’ voices in research and decision-making across Europe, an effort that continues to this day.
TEDDY Network became a Category 4 member of European Network of Paediatric Research at the European Medicines Agency (Enpr-EMA) in 2014, advanced to Category 1 in 2016, and, starting from 2024, serves as a member of the Coordinating Group. The operational objectives of Enpr-EMA include fostering collaboration, facilitating paediatric clinical trial recruitment, building competencies, avoiding unnecessary studies, stimulating high-quality research, and enhancing the European Research Area.
TEDDY Network has been registered as an official network within the European Network of Centres for Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacovigilance (ENCePP) since September 2015. ENCePP is an initiative that brings together expertise and resources in pharmacoepidemiology and pharmacovigilance across Europe. ENCePP is coordinated by the European Medicines Agency. TEDDY Network actively participates in ENCePP activities, with the goal of advancing focused pediatric research initiatives. TEDDY Network contributed significantly to the analysis of post-authorization pediatric studies included in the EUPAS registry, leading to the publication “Descriptive Analysis of Pediatric Studies Included in the European Union Post-Authorization Study Register from 2010 to 2023” to identify trends in terms of timing, age groups, and therapeutic areas and to discuss pediatric specificities and sources of funding for the PASs.
In 2024, the organisation joined the Accelerating Clinical Trials in the European Union (ACT-EU) initiative as part of its Multistakeholder Platform, launched in 2022 by the European Commission (EC), European Medicines Agency (EMA), and Heads of Medicines Agencies (HMA) to improve clinical trials in Europe. TEDDY Network participates in ACT EU as a representative of non-profit organisations within the Multistakeholder Platform’s Advisory Group, contribute to the initiative’s governance and the advancement of clinical trial methodologies. TEDDY Network participated in the 2024 official meetings, presenting proposals on methodological innovation and improvements to the CTIS system. In 2025, TEDDY Network contributed to the ‘Innovation in Ethics session at the ACT EU annual meeting, addressing topics such as artificial intelligence, the digitisation of informed consent and child-friendly information materials, whilst also being involved in the organisation of the event’s programme.
Raising its institutional role the TEDDY Network supports the development of medicines and medical devices through child-centred methodologies and innovative research practices, while promoting children’s well-being, safeguarding their rights and integrity in clinical research and medical care, and advancing paediatric science throughout Europe.
Major achievements in Children and Young Patients (CYP) Engagement
The nine YPAGs within the TEDDY KIDS Network, which are also members of the International Children’s Advisory Network (iCAN), work to raise awareness among key stakeholders about the persistent unmet therapeutic needs of children to prioritise children’s well-being and safety.
In collaboration with the Council of Europe (CoE), the TEDDY KIDS Network, involving young patients from Albania, France, Greece, Italy, Latvia, and Malta, contributed in 2023 to the development of the Guide to the participation of children in decision-making processes regarding their health, and a video was created by children for children within the framework of the Council of Europe Strategic Action Plan on Human Rights and Technologies in Biomedicine (2020-2025), under the Steering Committee on Human Rights in the fields of Biomedicine and Health (CDBIO).
A digital educational game, “My Clinical Trial Center”, was also created by young members of the TEDDY KIDS Network to explain clinical trials to children in an accessible and engaging way, illustrating how they work and why they are essential for developing medicines suitable for paediatric populations. The application is available on APPLE and Android platforms.
TEDDY Network has also actively participated in several public consultations led by EU authorities, contributing to the development of guidance documents and the improvement of existing regulations.