Necessity of rethinking oral pediatric formulations.

This commentary reviews the difficulties in formulating oral products for children. The significance of the fragmentation of the pediatric population in terms of development and ability to ingest different dosage formulations is examined. It is postulated that a flexible formulation, acceptable by all patient groups, is needed, and an automated compounding concept is proposed. The finishing of the formulation is done at the dispensing pharmacy using an automated process. The individual components (pudding-like carrier, microencapsulated drug, and the dispensing robot and its software) are reviewed. The involvement of different stakeholders is considered because new regulatory, clinical, and marketing thinking is required.