Pharma Fight for Playground Drug Market

According to PharmaTimes a third pharmaceutical company has filed for a generic version of the ADHD. Days after announcing plans that Shire would sue Teva Pharmaceutical Industries over patent infringement of Intuniv, Shire has been informed that another company is hoping to launch its generic version of the attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder drug.



ADHD is defined as a ‘psychiatric behavioural disorder’ that manifests as a persistent pattern of inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity that is more frequent and severe than is typically observed in individuals at a comparable level of development. The specific aetiology of ADHD is unknown and there is no single diagnostic test for this syndrome. Adequate diagnosis requires the use of medical and special psychological, educational, and social resources, utilizing diagnostic criteria such as Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV (DSM-IV®) or International Classification of Diseases 10.



There is mounting concern that this so-called disease has been artificially created by nothing other than self-interested parties including psychiatrists and drug companies. The question is, is being frequently inattentive in class an abnormal behaviour for children? Or, is it a reflection of teaching standards? The other sensible question is, do these children have a disease, or are they simply displaying perfectly normal human behaviour – the result of millions of years of human evolution outside of classrooms?



Furthermore, what studies have been done to show the long term effect on emotional development in these children? There is huge public concern over these issues, but ‘big pharma’ seem happier to ignore it.



Addiction expert, Dr Robert Lefever says: “it is sheer arrogance of pharmaceutical companies to claim that they actually understand the complexities of the human mind”.
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