RG Paediatric Psychopharmacology

The research group represents this relatively new field within children and adolescent psychiatry (CAP) both in teaching and research. With respect to conduct of clinical trials with children and adolescents, it is also involved in the clinical work of the department of CAP. The main objectives of the research group are fostering of clinical trials in paediatric psychopharmacology with sponsoring from both public funding agencies and the pharmaceutical industry, development of international trial site networks for multi-centre trials and collaboration with adjacent departments in translational research projects.

Main focus of the research group is the investigation of efficacy and safety/tolerability of psychopharmacological interventions in children and adolescents.

Since the formation of the working group in 2007, trials in patients with, e.g., attention-deficit /hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorder, major depression/bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, conduct disorder, Tourette syndrome/tic disorder were established, continued or concluded. Members of the department were entrusted with leadership responsibilities on national, European, and transcontinental levels.

The research group is and was participating in the EU-funded (FP 7) projects ADDUCE (long-term safety of methylphenidate), PERS (risperidone therapy in conduct disorder), STOP (medication-related suicidality) and TACTICS (glutamatergic treatment approaches in ASD and OCD) as well as in the EU (H2020) funded projects Eat2beNice (effects of diet and lifestyle on psychological symptoms) and PRIME (correlations of psychiatric and somatic insulinopathies). In addition, the working group is involved in a number of other publicly funded projects at national level and conducts studies in collaboration with the pharmaceutical industry.   

In 2019, the research group received the research award of the German Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Neuropsychopharmakologie und Pharmakopsychiatrie for research achievements in the field of medication adherence in mentally ill adolescents.