Almost four million children in the US are diagnosed with ADHD. If untreated, the disorder can have long-term adverse effects in childhood and lasting into adulthood. ADHD drugs are expected to generate $3.5 billion in 2005. Stimulants, specifically Adderall XR from Shire and Concerta from Johnson & Johnson are the market leaders with the newer nonstimulant drug, Lilly’s Strattera, in a distant third. Strattera had a slide in prescriptions during 2005 possibly due to a stricter warning label about possible liver problems and a new warning about suicidal thinking among young users. This provides a good opportunity for new treatments from Cephalon, New River, and Shire which are expected to launch in 2006….
