Asthma is a leading cause of disease among children aged 5-14 years, with higher prevalence of asthma found in younger children, indigenous children and children with disability. Oral prednisolone is the most common steroid prescribed for managing asthma flare-ups in Australia.
However, prednisolone medicines for children have intolerable taste, with children often refusing to take them or spitting them out when compelled to do so. This leads to poor medication compliance, treatment failure and potential consecutive increased risk for perioperative complications.
This project aims to overcome the low acceptance of current prednisolone products by developing a novel palatable and chewable prednisolone tablet using our patented chewable Chocolate-based Delivery System (CDS) that meets pharmaceutical standards of quality and storage stability. A more palatable prednisolone will help improve medication compliance and reduce the trauma experienced by caregivers and children alike when the children are forced to take bitter medications.
By improving treatment compliance, patients’ respiratory function and symptoms can be better optimised prior to surgery leading to less perioperative complications as well as better treatment adherence and outcomes in the acute setting. A further outcome will be the continued upskilling of the research team allowing development of other novel more child-friendly medications which are clinically important for which currently paediatric formulation are lacking and/or are unpalatable.
Dr Chloe Heath, University of Western Australia and Telethon Kids Institute
Professor Lee Yong Lim, University of Western Australia
Associate Professor Connie Locher, University of Western Australia
The project was awarded $A70,000 funding through the ANZCA research grants program for 2023.