Giving children with a certain medical condition tablets instead of liquid medicine could save the NHS tens of thousands of pounds per patient each year, experts have said.<\/p>\n
Researchers found patients as young as seven were successfully able to switch to pills, and often preferred them to the taste of liquid medicine.<\/p>\n
Experts from Great Ormond Street Hospital (Gosh) are now planning to assess whether patients as young as four can successfully switch to cheaper tablets.<\/p>\n
Academics at the world-renowned children\u2019s hospital wanted to examine the switch among patients with a condition called congenital hyperinsulinism (CHI), which affects one in every 30,000-40,000 children. <\/p>\n
Jess Manktelow, 11, has been a Gosh patient since she was 15 months old Credit: handout\/PA<\/p>\n
Children with the condition, which leads to high levels of insulin in the body, are given a treatment called diazoxide to keep their blood sugar (glucose) levels stable.<\/p>\n
They must take treatment multiple times a day depending on their insulin and glucose levels.<\/p>\n
Until now children were given the treatment as a liquid, with liquid diazoxide coming with a price tag of \u00a315.50 per 50mg. <\/p>\n
In contrast \u2013 diazoxide in tablet form costs just \u00a31.15 per 50mg.<\/p>\n
Experts have estimated that switching from liquid to tablets could save the NHS \u00a340,000 per patient per year.<\/p>\n
Gosh experts conducted a project on 19 patients aged seven to 13 to see whether the switch was viable.<\/p>\n
Jess Manktelow switched to diazoxide tablets in April 2025. Credit: handout\/PA<\/p>\n
Patients were monitored to ensure their blood glucose levels remained stable and asked about how the change in medication format had impacted them.<\/p>\n
Jess Manktelow, who has CHI and has been a Gosh patient since she was 15 months old, was one of the children who took part in the project.<\/p>\n
Her school and family life was organised around taking liquid diazoxide multiple times a day, which needs to be stored at room temperature in a glass bottle and drawn up with a syringe.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would always get a lot of questions about the medication when I would go away camping or at airport for holidays,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would always be hard to explain why I need it so much, but it isn\u2019t always an easy condition to explain.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 11-year-old, from Kent, was switched to diazoxide tablets in April 2025.<\/p>\n
Jess Manktelow has described how the switch has made \u2018things very easy for me\u2019 Credit: handout\/PA<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has made a big difference taking medicine that doesn\u2019t taste horrible,\u201d she added. \u201cThere were times where I didn\u2019t want to take it because of the taste.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt makes things very easy for me now, I\u2019m able to do it myself and it doesn\u2019t take up as much time at school or when I\u2019m doing things I like, like climbing, it doesn\u2019t have as much impact and that makes me happy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her mother Steph Manktelow added: \u201cWe were so excited when the team told us we could switch to the diazoxide tablets.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019d been hoping for some time, we knew it was a better solution and would allow Jess to have control over her condition and that is very important.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kate Morgan, Gosh clinical nurse specialist who co-led the project, said: \u201cWe knew the potential this trial had for savings, but the scale of the quality-of-life improvements for children and their families we are seeing is something we didn\u2019t anticipate.<\/p>\n
\u201cChildren are so much more than their diagnoses \u2013 they have full lives and families and their illnesses affects everyone, so it is very important we do all we can to make simple, positive changes that impact everyone for the better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Project co-lead Dr Antonia Dastamani, consultant of paediatric endocrinology and diabetes at Gosh, added: \u201cIt is common practice to ask patients how they\u2019re finding treatment, or how they feel when they have injections, but we never thought to ask patients about the taste of medicines and whether they like them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis has shed a light on key questions we now want to ask children and young people about their care and treatment so they can be more involved and have more independence in their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n