A recent article in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology (BJCP) highlights the history behind why there is currently a severe shortage of medical innovation for newborns. "The need for paediatric studies persists and new efforts to increase the study of drugs in neonates and to improve the efficiency of these studies are underway," the study says. "We can look to a future when neonatal drug therapy has the same solid data base that is provided for treatment of older children and adults." 

In the Fall 2016 American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Newsletter, incoming Chair of the Section on Advances in Therapeutics and Technology (SOATT) Dr. Mitchell Reid Goldsten focuses on the need to improve medical innovation for neonates. "There is no excuse for lack of acceptable pediatric devices or medications due to inadequate resources for research and development," he writes. "The Promoting Life Saving New Therapies for Neonates Act of 2015 (S. 2041 and H.R. 5182) is an example of legislation designed to bridge the gap... This legislation would mark a promising step forward in creating appropriate incentives to bring new treatments forward to benefit this vulnerable population."

Jennifer Degl, author of From Hope to Joy: A Memoir of a Mother's Determination and Her Micro Preemie's Struggle to Beat the Odds and champion of the Newborn Health Initiative shares her experiences as a Keynote Speaker at the 32nd Annual NANN Conference last week in Palm Springs.

​ "[NICU nurses] are not only concerned with saving and caring for our premature and medically fragile babies, but they also want to make sure that we all leave the NICU with as little bruises as possible," Ms. Degl writes. "There is no way to leave the NICU unscathed by our experiences after watching our babies (and often ourselves) endure so much pain and suffering, but I learned that the NICU nurses are always looking for newer and better methods to minimize it for us all."