Accelerate Paediatric Clinical Trials Across Europe

conect4children Stichting (c4c-S) is an innovative pan-European paediatric clinical trial network of high-quality, trial-ready sites, and multidisciplinary experts.

c4c-S transforms paediatric trials, streamlining design, setup, and conduct for regulatory-grade, patient-centric excellence across all ages and therapeutic areas. We offer a faster more reliable feasibility assessment, efficient study initiation and support high quality study conduct and high patient retention, based on innovative study designs supported by expert input.

c4c will host an international symposium, a two-day event, for invited stakeholders to share the achievements and results of the conect4children project and c4c-S. Workshops on various aspects of paediatric clinical trial development and implementation will be held for participants, covering a variety of topics where attendees will be able to interact and collaborate with the members of c4c.

If you work in paediatric clinical trials or paediatric medicines and this sounds interesting to you, register your interest at spoc@conect4children.org.

25+

Dedicated PPI (patient public involvement) experts

400+

Clinical & innovative methodology experts

20

National Hubs (NHs) from 21 countries

250+

High-quality trial-ready sites

Efficient processes through a single point of contact (SPoC) enable us to shorten our timelines at all stages while delivering high quality outputs.

Average

Expert advice

Expert
advice

36 weeks

100%
33.3%

12 weeks

site identification

site
identification

7.9 weeks*

100%
25%

2 weeks

site feasibility

site
feasibility

6.5 weeks*

100%
62%

4 weeks

Expert advice

Average

36 weeks

100%
33.3%

12 weeks

site identification

Average

7.9 weeks*

100%
49%

4 weeks

4 weeks

site feasibility

Average

6.5 weeks*

100%
31%

2 weeks

*For all studies, not only paediatrics. Adapted from Tufts CSDD:  link

Did you know?

Only 30% of medicines marketed worldwide have a paediatric authorisation.

Less than 50% of medicines commonly used in children have been studied in this population.

Only 10% of medicines used in neonatal intensive care units have been studied on babies.

c4c-S aims to address the challenges of conducting paediatric trials by fostering an environment where patients, parents, and the medical community work closely together.  This will speed up and facilitate the running of high quality paediatric clinical trials, ultimately contributing to the development of better medicines for babies, children and young adults. By innovating together, sharing resources, and focusing on education and awareness we can create better clinical trial landscape for babies, children and young people.

Through a Single Point of Access, c4c-S Supports the Next Generation of Paediatric Therapies to a Network of:

Multidisciplinary experts divided into 25 Expert Groups based on their medical specialties.

20 National Hubs (NHs) ensuring a local representation across Europe, providing a close relationship and easier access to clinical sites and paediatric stakeholders in their region.

The network fostered by c4c-S has a broad European scope. The experts and National Hubs cover the majority of Europe, ensuring that paediatric clinical trials can tap into the resources from a range of cultures, infrastructure and populations. c4c-S also engages experts beyond Europe, broadening its horizons to embrace a global perspective.

BORN FROM AN AMBITIOUS PUBLIC-PRIVATE INITIATIVE

c4c-S, a not-for-profit foundation, was created in April 2023 as a result of conect4children, one of the largest Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) projects. conect4children, is a one-of-a-kind collaboration between:

  • 36 academic partners
  • 10 industry partners
  • 500 affiliated partners

The project ensures that the foundation for a pan-European clinical trial network includes the voices of children, young people and families. The consortium has engaged with patient focus organisations to lay the foundation for a pan-European clinical trial network.

The project’s dedicated education, training and data workstreams support the future leaders of paediatric drug development. 

Access our services through a single point of contact

TAP INTO A NETWORK OF PAEDIATRIC EXPERTS

Our Expert Advice service gives you fast and efficient access to over 400 clinical, methodology, and patient and public involvement experts.

Their up-to-date and in-depth insights can provide value at any stage of paediatric drug development but are especially useful to improve study design.

  • We provide end-to-end support, resulting in high-quality, independent advice reports that can be used in regulatory discussions on PIPs (paediatric investigation plans) and PSPs (paediatric study plans )
  • Obtain multidisciplinary insights from a single request and a single contract.
  • A tailored team of experts is assembled for each request.
  • Improve patient recruitment and retention through making a study more patient-centric based on the insights of children, young people and families.

SET YOUR SIGHTS ON THE BEST SITES FOR YOUR PAEDIATRIC TRIALS

Coming soon in 2024:

SITE IDENTIFICATION         SITE FEASIBILITY      STUDY SUPPORT

Set up and conduct paediatric trials faster and more efficiently, thanks to our network of over 250 high-quality sites across 21 countries.

Education and training resources

Watch some of our taster videos from the c4c Academy which are courses covering a range of topics in paediatric clinical trial setup, protocols, management, and best practices. You can find three learning approaches: the first based on self-learning, the other two on different levels of interaction. 

c4c – Taster course 01 – Self-learning model

c4c – Taster course 02 – Low interaction model

c4c – Taster course 03 – High interaction model

For more information, please contact us!





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