A Maternal Health Project Group was set up in the Summer 2020 by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry to address the lack of licensed medicines and treatments designed and researched for use in pregnancy and breastfeeding.
As a community that is typically underserved, much more can be done to boost participation in clinical trials, collect data on the effect of vaccines and common prescription and over-the-counter medicines, and ultimately inform health care providers and patients about the benefits and risks of treatments during pregnancy and breastfeeding.
The aim is to make sure patients and health care providers are more informed about any decisions they may need to make. The Group is using the combined expertise of patients, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the Health Research Authority, clinicians, academia, and industry to make meaningful progress in four key areas:
- Getting more pregnant patients involved in clinical trials.
- Driving investment into pharmaceutical research for medicines used in pregnancy and breastfeeding.
- Producing a guide on available databases at UK and EU level and promoting industry/academic use of these datasets for research.
- Raising awareness of the issues and the work being undertaken by the Group, including dispelling misconceptions around maternal health and clinical trials and lowering barriers to inclusion in research.
If you are a patient or a member from industry and you think you have the background and could help on this challenge, the ABPI MHPG needs you! Please contact Belen at the ABPI for more information.