FDA orders consumer medication guides for stimulants.
Printable Version
Source:
TCPR, May 2007, Vol 5, Issue 5, Topics in Geriatric Psychiatry 
Subject:
ADHD
Short Description:
FDA orders consumer medication guides for stimulants.
Update:
On February 21, 2007, the FDA directed all
manufacturers of stimulants to develop
Medication Guides for patients, spelling
out, in non-technical language, the dangers
of taking these medications. Last
year, the FDA required an additional
black box warning for stimulants warning
of the risk of sudden death due to cardiac
complications. This new directive responds to concerns that the black box information
wasn’t filtering down to consumers. You
can view the drafts of these medication
guides at http://www.fda.gov/cder/
drug/infopage/ADHD/default.htm. Don’t
worry, you won't have to keep a stack of
these in your office; the pharmacist who
fills the script will hand them to your
patients.
TCPR's Take:
This will certainly lead
to many questions from patients and family
members, as well as fewer stimulant
prescriptions overall – which is either a
good or a bad thing depending on your
pharmaco-politics. Some psychiatrists
believe that ADHD is severely under-treated,
while others believe that the current wave of
stimulant enthusiasm has gone overboard.
You can find research data to support either
position if you look hard enough!
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Psychiatry in the News
To help members of the general public understand the sometimes complicated world of psychiatry, TCPR publisher and editor-in-chief Dr. Daniel Carlat has joined AOL Health as their mental health expert and blogger. You can read his AOL blog here.
