Paediatric pharmacology: remember the excipients.

Excipients are largely used by pharmaceutical industry to guarantee preservation and stability and confer shape, volume and consistency to pharmaceutical preparations. They are particularly important in medicines intended for prescription in children since they often play a critical role in manufacturing of suitable paediatric formulations. It was generally believed that excipients were inert substances; on the contrary, it is actually well known that excipients are far from being inactive and much more interest is growing about safety issues associated with their extensive use by pharmaceutical industry in general, and for manufacturing of paediatric drugs in particular.