The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) and ViS Research have announced the expansion of the companies’ Pediatric Clinical Research Group on the ViS platform to include pediatric research sites.

Last year, BIO and ViS launched an initiative to improve the efficiency of clinical development for pediatric therapeutics. BIO and its member companies work with ViS to use its online analytics platform to evaluate global pediatric clinical research infrastructure, identify pediatric patient populations and empower clinical research collaboration.

The aim of the initiative is to help member companies more efficiently assess the global pediatric clinical research landscape and to engage sites more easily for pediatric clinical studies. It also will enable a comprehensive mapping of the pediatric patient population, with live feeds of local patient demographics. It aims to reduce the site burden from feasibility assessments and decrease site start-up time.

“Our partnership with ViS Research Institute is helping streamline pediatric clinical research worldwide,” said Jim Greenwood, BIO president and CEO. “ViS Analytics will help drug developers identify pediatric research sites, making it faster and easier to conduct pediatric clinical trials and, ultimately, deliver treatments and cures to children suffering from life-threatening and debilitating diseases.”

The FDA and EMA require pediatric development plans before approval of new therapeutics. Drug developers have difficulty finding qualified sites that can recruit patients for pediatric trials. Approximately 60% of the disease burden for high priority conditions like schizophrenia, depression, malaria and HIV/Aids is borne by children, though only about 12% of clinical trials are pediatric, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.