It is through my PhD research on clinical pharmacology of anti-infectives in children living with HIV that I became involved in Penta (EMPIRICAL and D3 trials). Being an early career researcher, I immediately felt very welcome in the Penta family. On top of that, Penta provides many opportunities to develop ourselves professionally, make friends who have a shared passion (improving child health) and collaborate with colleagues coming from different countries and cultures.
Child health research is crucial as children are the most vulnerable and delicate population with the longest life ahead of them. Unfortunately, there is still a significant gap between, for example, the number medications being available for children compared to adults. With my (future) research, I hope to contribute a little bit to closing that gap.
It is fantastic to see the important position that PK research has acquired within Penta’s strategic trials. Studies like ODYSSEY have shown that PK studies are essential to accelerate access to novel antiretroviral drugs for children. However, none of that would have been possible without the multidisciplinary collaboration within Penta and with partners that resulted in rapid implementation of research, fast roll-out of new medications, and incorporation of the treatment recommendations in clinical guidelines. Penta facilitates all that and brings together knowledge from different disciplines to close the children-adult gap as soon as possible!
“if you change the beginning of the story you change the whole story” – Raffi Cavoukian –
Find out more about the Penta ECRs