[SSRI-Research] Pay Attention: ADHD Market Shifts To Adults

[Guest guest]

> JustSayNo

> Wed, 7 Jul 2004 19:34:05 -0700 (PDT)

> [sSRI-Research] Pay Attention: ADHD Market

> Shifts To Adults

>

> Emerging Trends

> Pay Attention: ADHD Market Shifts To Adults

> Find/SVP, 07.06.04, 7:00 AM ET

>

>

http://www.forbes.com/business/2004/07/06/0706findsvp_adhd.html?partner= & re\

ferrer=

>

> Hot Trend: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

> (ADHD), which afflicts some 2 million children,

> turns

> out to affect adults as well, changing health care

> paradigms and opening a floodgate for pharmaceutical

> companies.

>

> Why: The market for children's drugs was already a

> fat

> one, with annual prescriptions increasing by 500%

> since 1991 according to Investor's Business Daily,

> but

> then " a lot of adults began to recognize the

> symptoms

> their children were describing, " says FIND/SVP's

> Healthcare Consultant Bindu Shah. Companies began to

> support research and run clinical trials for drugs

> targeting this new segment.

>

> Opportunity: Adult ADHD had been tentatively

> diagnosed, but there wasn't a clearly defined

> treatment until Eli Lilly (nyse: LLY - news - people

> )

> came out with Stattera, which grossed $1.2 million

> in

> prescriptions in its first six months on the market.

> Other companies are now running trials for " adult "

> versions of such successful ADHD drugs as Shire

> Pharmaceuticals' (nasdaq: SHPGY - news - people )

> Adderall and Ritalin from Novartis (nyse: NVS - news

> -

> people ), but tactful marketing may be the real key

> to

> success. " Stress is a grownup problem, but admitting

> that you have the same problems as your distracted

> preteen can be embarrassing, " says Shah. Marketers

> can

> help position new drugs, and this new awareness may

> impact counselors in HR environments. As for the

> pharmaceutical industry, with this new market,

> research and development will also be important to

> identify potential side effects.

>

> Danger: Companies are already beginning to crowd the

> market, and skeptics aren't sure that the new drugs

> are really more effective than the old ones that

> were

> being used to treat adults " off-label, " says Shah.

> " And then there was the whole 'Ritalin nation'

> issue, "

> she points out, with the media harping on the image

> of

> millions of drugged-up children. " Companies need to

> be

> careful how they market these drugs, " Shah cautions,

> " and not appear to be jumping on the bandwagon to

> make

> money. "

>