rockhound
06-04-2004, 09:45 AM
Attention Drugs Come of Age as Firms Target Adults
Thu 3 June, 2004 06:07
By Ben Hirschler, European Pharmaceuticals Correspondent
LONDON (Reuters) - Medicating attention disorder, already a $2.2
billion-a-year business, is about to get a lot bigger as drug
companies expand the treatment from children to adults.
Traditionally associated with kids' tantrums, attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been viewed as an illness which is
outgrown in adolescence.
Yet up to 65 percent of children with ADHD may still exhibit symptoms
into adulthood, according to some studies, making grown-ups a
lucrative new market for drug manufacturers.
Eli Lilly & Co's Strattera is currently the only ADHD pill with
approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in adults.
But Britain's Shire Pharmaceuticals Group expects its market-leading
Adderall XR to get a green light within the next month or two.
"The adult market is three times the size of the children's market.
The market is ripe and is moving in the right direction," Matthew
Emmens, Shire's chief executive, told Reuters in an interview.
Much of the past three years of sales growth is, in fact, due to U.S.
doctors already prescribing for adults, he added.
Some medics, however, are uncomfortable at snowballing drug use which
is now spreading beyond the United States, where spending on
behavioral disorders overtook the cost of antibiotics and asthma
medicines for children in 2003.
http://tinyurl.com/2p7x9
20 PERCENT GROWTH
In the United States, which accounts for the vast majority of
prescriptions, sales are increasing at around 20 percent a year and
drug companies are developing new, improved treatments to exploit the
new adult opening.
Lilly's Strattera is the first non-stimulant to reach the market and
other companies are working hard to follow suit. In contrast to
rivals, Strattera is not designated as a controlled substance, a class
of drugs tightly regulated to prevent abuse.
Other firms are re-analyzing the role of existing medicines.
GlaxoSmithKline, for example, is considering seeking approval to use
antidepressant Wellbutrin XL in adult ADHD, as it is already given by
some doctors for the condition.
The exact mechanism of action of ADHD drugs remains unclear but they
appear to work by amplifying chemical signaling in the brain
associated with attention. In particular, they seem to boost the
activity of dopamine, a key message-carrying chemical.
For many of those dealing with ADHD at the sharp end, however, the
biochemical processes are incidental.
Andrea Bilbow, a mother of an ADHD child who runs the Attention
Deficit Disorder Information and Support Service in Britain, sees the
issue in stark terms.
------------------------------------------------
"One tablet can do more in half an hour than a therapist can do in
three years," she hath spoken.
-----------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------
Dr Val Harpin, a consultant paediatrician at Sheffield Children's NHS
Trust, said it was crucial that children were properly diagnosed
before any drugs were prescribed. "The most important thing is about
getting the right diagnosis," she also hath spoken.
"We don't want to treat children with drugs if we can get around it,
but if doctors can choose between a stimulant, amphetamine-based drug
and one not like that, then it could benefit thousands of children."
Dr Harpin said the cost of the treatment, which was "significantly
more" than Ritalin, would count against it when being considered by
NHS trusts and the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice)
which recommends drugs for use in the NHS. But she said at least it
provided another option.
----------------------------------------
"choose between a stimulant, amphetamine-based drug, and one not like
that." Spoken like a true professional.
Thu 3 June, 2004 06:07
By Ben Hirschler, European Pharmaceuticals Correspondent
LONDON (Reuters) - Medicating attention disorder, already a $2.2
billion-a-year business, is about to get a lot bigger as drug
companies expand the treatment from children to adults.
Traditionally associated with kids' tantrums, attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been viewed as an illness which is
outgrown in adolescence.
Yet up to 65 percent of children with ADHD may still exhibit symptoms
into adulthood, according to some studies, making grown-ups a
lucrative new market for drug manufacturers.
Eli Lilly & Co's Strattera is currently the only ADHD pill with
approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in adults.
But Britain's Shire Pharmaceuticals Group expects its market-leading
Adderall XR to get a green light within the next month or two.
"The adult market is three times the size of the children's market.
The market is ripe and is moving in the right direction," Matthew
Emmens, Shire's chief executive, told Reuters in an interview.
Much of the past three years of sales growth is, in fact, due to U.S.
doctors already prescribing for adults, he added.
Some medics, however, are uncomfortable at snowballing drug use which
is now spreading beyond the United States, where spending on
behavioral disorders overtook the cost of antibiotics and asthma
medicines for children in 2003.
http://tinyurl.com/2p7x9
20 PERCENT GROWTH
In the United States, which accounts for the vast majority of
prescriptions, sales are increasing at around 20 percent a year and
drug companies are developing new, improved treatments to exploit the
new adult opening.
Lilly's Strattera is the first non-stimulant to reach the market and
other companies are working hard to follow suit. In contrast to
rivals, Strattera is not designated as a controlled substance, a class
of drugs tightly regulated to prevent abuse.
Other firms are re-analyzing the role of existing medicines.
GlaxoSmithKline, for example, is considering seeking approval to use
antidepressant Wellbutrin XL in adult ADHD, as it is already given by
some doctors for the condition.
The exact mechanism of action of ADHD drugs remains unclear but they
appear to work by amplifying chemical signaling in the brain
associated with attention. In particular, they seem to boost the
activity of dopamine, a key message-carrying chemical.
For many of those dealing with ADHD at the sharp end, however, the
biochemical processes are incidental.
Andrea Bilbow, a mother of an ADHD child who runs the Attention
Deficit Disorder Information and Support Service in Britain, sees the
issue in stark terms.
------------------------------------------------
"One tablet can do more in half an hour than a therapist can do in
three years," she hath spoken.
-----------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------
Dr Val Harpin, a consultant paediatrician at Sheffield Children's NHS
Trust, said it was crucial that children were properly diagnosed
before any drugs were prescribed. "The most important thing is about
getting the right diagnosis," she also hath spoken.
"We don't want to treat children with drugs if we can get around it,
but if doctors can choose between a stimulant, amphetamine-based drug
and one not like that, then it could benefit thousands of children."
Dr Harpin said the cost of the treatment, which was "significantly
more" than Ritalin, would count against it when being considered by
NHS trusts and the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice)
which recommends drugs for use in the NHS. But she said at least it
provided another option.
----------------------------------------
"choose between a stimulant, amphetamine-based drug, and one not like
that." Spoken like a true professional.