TEDDY strengthens its role in European Paediatric Research by coordinating EPTRI’s Central Management Office
TEDDY – European Network of Excellence for Paediatric Clinical Research has taken on the coordination of the Central Management Office (CMO) of the European Paediatric Transnational Research Infrastructure (EPTRI AISBL) reinforcing its role in supporting the development of innovative medicines and medical devices specifically designed for children.
Currently, EPTRI brings together 27 members from 15 countries, including universities, hospitals, research centres, and patient organisations. This distributed model combines Thematic Research Platforms (TRPs) with National Nodes (NNs), enabling collaboration across multiple scientific and clinical domains within paediatric research.
Within this framework, the CMO is responsible for the day-to-day coordination of the infrastructure, including service intake and provision to external users, financial and legal support, communication and dissemination activities, and the management of EPTRI’s thematic platforms.
EPTRI’s integrated approach connects preclinical, developmental, and clinical research to support the end-to-end development of medicines and medical devices specifically tailored for children. This approach aims to address the persistent gap in paediatric innovation by designing child-specific solutions rather than adapting treatments originally developed for adults.
Key activities include coordinating leading paediatric research centres across Europe and beyond, providing access to specialised expertise and services for paediatric drug and medical device development, and promoting data and knowledge sharing to support evidence-based research. EPTRI also delivers educational and capacity-building programmes, fosters collaboration among academia, industry, regulators, and patients, and supports innovative projects aimed at improving the development of safe, effective, and child-appropriate health products. These efforts are particularly important in paediatric research, where patient populations are smaller and datasets are often fragmented.
EPTRI’s main activities comprise identifying therapeutic targets relevant to paediatric disease biology, developing age-appropriate formulations, and establishing data standards that enable the reuse and interoperability of paediatric research data in accordance with FAIR principles. These efforts are particularly important in paediatric research, where patient populations are smaller and datasets are often fragmented.
In addition, as an EPTRI member, TEDDY contributes expertise in several strategic areas, including clinical research methodologies, regulatory and ethical frameworks, paediatric health data management in line with GDPR and real-world evidence approaches, Young Patients’ Involvement & Engagement as well as stakeholder engagement and training.
By coordinating the EPTRI’s CMO, TEDDY further strengthens EPTRI’s capacity to operate as a European pathway for innovation in child health, fostering collaboration across disciplines and stakeholders to accelerate the development of safe and effective therapies for children.