"New fruit flavored ADHD drug latest ploy to get our kids hooked" This is outrageous. Faith Dominoe #TheEnlightenedPsychopath
Source: http://hsionline.com/2016/06/01/chewable-fruit-flavored-adzenys-the-latest-risky-adhd-drug/
It’s chewable, fruit-flavored and OK’d for children as young as six.
And experts are calling it a recipe for disaster.
I’m talking about Adzenys, the latest attempt by Big Pharma to get young kids hooked on ADHD meds.
The company behind Adzenys is getting ready to roll it out to thousands of doctors across the country.
But before Adzenys shows up at your pediatrician’s office, there are some serious risks that every parent and grandparent needs to know about.
And one of those risks includes sudden death.
“Back to School” used to mean new clothes, notebooks and other school supplies.
But this year, Neos Therapeutics hopes the occasion also means its newly-approved, fruity ADHD drug will be in the school bags of as many children as possible.
That’s why Neos is now “ramping up” its sales force to get a head start on the new school year.
Maybe Neos could also promote Adzenys with a special logo pencil case with a compartment to hold the drugs.
And don’t let that label saying it can be taken by kids at the ripe old age of six fool you.
As a condition of its approval, the FDA said the drugmaker must conduct a safety study for tots as young as four! And there’s no doubt that Adzenys will be prescribed off label to toddlers right away.
It’s the latest chapter in the sordid history of ADHD meds — make them tasty and so easy to take kids won’t know the difference between them and a jelly bean.
Last December I told you about Pfizer’s recently-approved cherry-flavored ADHD med. And as with Adzenys, the FDA also ordered tests to be done on four-year-olds. You can’t tell me that doesn’t mean the agency isn’t fully aware that these drugs are being given to kids who are still being potty trained.
And while Adzenys has just hit the market, we already know a lot about its kissing-cousin, the ADHD med Adderall.
Adderall has been linked with heart attacks, strokes and death. In fact, ten years ago the med was suspended for six months in Canada after the drugmaker released information on the sudden deaths of 14 children and six adults who were taking it.
So it should come as no surprise that the Adzenys label warns about “sudden death” — and more. Things like blood pressure and heart rate increases, “psychotic or manic symptoms” in kids and adults with no prior history of any mental problems, and “long-term suppression of growth.”
And that’s just the short list.
And like Adderall XR, this new fruity drug is also an extended-release med that will give these children a constant supply of it all day long.
Let’s face it: the kiddy prescriptions for ADHD drugs are out of control. At this rate, soon they’ll be selling better than Playskool toys.
Not too long ago the CDC reported that over 10,000 two- and three-year-olds are regularly getting ADHD meds. At the same time a watchdog group called the Citizens Commission on Human
Rights uncovered the fact that as many as 645,000 kids three and younger were being medicated for anxiety, depression or ADHD.
Even without counting the numbers of older kids, teens and adults taking them, the numbers are shocking. And with ADHD drug sales skyrocketing to the tune of over $12 billion a year, the last thing we need is a candy-flavored one.
Or, as one expert said, “What’s next? Gummy Bears?”
Sources:
“Tasty and easy to take, a new ADHD drug alarms some psychiatrists” Meghana Keshavan, May 23, 2016, Stat, statnews.com