NICHD’s Role in Advancing Research on Pregnant and Lactating Populations



This blog post was originally published by the Coalition to Advance Maternal Therapeutics

By Monica Lefton, Communications Manager, SWHR

“We must continue to work to change the culture to protect pregnant women through research and not from research,” said Dr. Diana Bianchi, Director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), during an October meeting of the Coalition to Advance Maternal Therapeutics (CAMT).

In her remarks, Dr. Bianchi walked coalition members through NICHD’s role in advancing research in pregnant and lactating populations, which includes but is not limited to:

As Dr. Bianchi remarked, the COVID-19 pandemic served as a reminder about the importance of including pregnant and lactating populations and how their exclusion can be harmful. “We can’t let that happen again,” she said. “The main thing is to always be thinking about pregnant people.”

Looking to the future, Dr. Bianchi is hopeful. She noted the vast, largely untapped research potential of creating something like a centralized data bank of electronic health records (EHRs) for understanding the safety and efficacy of medications during pregnancy. She is eager to see other health organizations, such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), join NICHD in the continued dismantling of existing barriers to inclusive research through funding and new guidelines, and she would like to see more robust training available for the next generation of obstetricians, pediatricians, and pharmacologists. Ultimately, she said, improving public awareness of PRGLAC is fundamental for positively shifting the research landscape.

“The big issue is changing the culture. This should be a topic that everyone can agree on… We want pregnant people to be healthy and safe, we want their babies to be healthy and safe, but we can’t do that until we have more data.”

Dr. Diana Bianchi

Learn more about PRGLAC, including what recommendations the Task Force made regarding research and the development of safe and effective therapies specific to pregnant women and lactating women here.

This blog post was originally published by the Coalition to Advance Maternal Therapeutics

By Monica Lefton, Communications Manager, SWHR

“We must continue to work to change the culture to protect pregnant women through research and not from research,” said Dr. Diana Bianchi, Director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), during an October meeting of the Coalition to Advance Maternal Therapeutics (CAMT).

In her remarks, Dr. Bianchi walked coalition members through NICHD’s role in advancing research in pregnant and lactating populations, which includes but is not limited to:

As Dr. Bianchi remarked, the COVID-19 pandemic served as a reminder about the importance of including pregnant and lactating populations and how their exclusion can be harmful. “We can’t let that happen again,” she said. “The main thing is to always be thinking about pregnant people.”

Looking to the future, Dr. Bianchi is hopeful. She noted the vast, largely untapped research potential of creating something like a centralized data bank of electronic health records (EHRs) for understanding the safety and efficacy of medications during pregnancy. She is eager to see other health organizations, such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), join NICHD in the continued dismantling of existing barriers to inclusive research through funding and new guidelines, and she would like to see more robust training available for the next generation of obstetricians, pediatricians, and pharmacologists. Ultimately, she said, improving public awareness of PRGLAC is fundamental for positively shifting the research landscape.

“The big issue is changing the culture. This should be a topic that everyone can agree on… We want pregnant people to be healthy and safe, we want their babies to be healthy and safe, but we can’t do that until we have more data.”

Dr. Diana Bianchi

Learn more about PRGLAC, including what recommendations the Task Force made regarding research and the development of safe and effective therapies specific to pregnant women and lactating women here.