Meet the team behind c4c! We are a diverse group of people from many different backgrounds, but all of us are working towards a common goal: better medicines for children through European clinical trials. Today’s spotlight is on Kristina an Haack from pharmaceutical company Sanofi, who helps developing training programmes within c4c.
After growing up and studying in Germany, Kristina went on quite a tour of the world. She first moved to France for an internship and afterwards lived in Japan, the United States and China. She is currently back in France, in the Paris region.
Kristina spent the first half of her career in academia. A paediatrician by training, she specialised in the treatment of rare diseases (that affect less than 1 in 2000 people). She moved to the pharmaceutical industry about ten years ago and currently works for the pharmaceutical company Sanofi, in Clinical Development for Rare Diseases & Rare Blood Disorders. Next to her role at Sanofi, she is one of the leaders of an internal network of experts who on a voluntary basis work together to develop better drugs for children.
“I naturally had a big interest in the c4c project from the very beginning, as we have the same mission to improve children’s lives. From the start of c4c, I wanted to be involved, and I really enjoy the collaboration with the c4c experts. Regardless of where we come from, academic circles or pharma companies, we all join our forces and do the best we can.”
A smooth collaboration for a common goal
Despite the differences between academic institutions and pharmaceutical companies, the collaboration between the experts from both sides is going very smoothly, says Kristina. “Many people in the industry have worked in academia before, so they are familiar with this world. Academics involved in paediatric medicine development are usually also very aware of the benefits of partnering up with the industry. In any case, we all have the common goal of bringing better medicines to a community that has for long been neglected. I think our expertise and fields of action are furthermore very complementary.”
Kristina’s contribution to c4c…
For c4c, Kristina focuses mainly on the development of a training programme with advanced courses for everybody who’s involved in paediatric drug development. The training not only helps to gain greater insight into the details around the development of new medicine, but also offers for example guidance around safety aspects of clinical trials and around the best ways to involve patients and the broader public.
“My team has led the specific part of the programme that deals with ethics, regulation, pregnancy, and medicine against rare diseases, but also participated to training modules related to Good Clinical Practice and Paediatric Clinical Trials” explains Kristina. “I’m very proud of this collaborative effort with partners from academia.”
…and her hopes for the future!
Kristina is also involved in the continuation of c4c in the long term. True to her cosmopolitan nature, she hopes to help expand the network outside of Europe. “There are already similar initiatives in the United States and in the Asia-Pacific region, so I think it would be wonderful to come to a worldwide network,” she says. “Of course, there will be limitations to a global project, but it could be greatly to the benefit of experts developing medicines for children. Especially with regard to education, training, raising awareness and building a community of experts, patients, families, and caregivers everywhere“.
