Stimulant patch | ADHD Information

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Thought this was interesting.

http://www.kron.com/Global/story.asp?S=4283640&nav=menu1 30_11

New Skin Patch Treatment for ADD/ADHD
To be Tested in UCSD Medical Center Clinical Trial

For more about current medications and treatments for AD/HD
• See the Medical Center

UCSD Medical Center is offering a new clinical trial for children who have, or expect they may have, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or its closely affiliated condition, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), which are manifested by symptoms such as an inability to focus, short attention spans and impulsive behavior.

Open to children between the ages of 6 and 12, the trial will test a skin patch that contains methylphenidate, the ingredient found in Ritalin, the most popularly prescribed ADD/ADHD medication. The patch provides a steady level of drug through the skin to the bloodstream and offers an alternative to twice-daily pills. The study is funded by the patch’s maker, Noven Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

David Feifel, M.D., Ph.D., director of UCSD Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Medicine Program and its Adult Attention Deficit Disorder Clinic, notes the skin patch may reduce some of Ritalin’s side-effects, such as jitteriness and stomach aches since these side effects are often due to the rapid fluctuations in methylphenidate blood levels associated with taking the short-acting oral form of the drug multiple times a day.

Another potential advantage, says clinical trial coordinator Beata K. Kawamoto, M.S., is that “children would not have to experience the stigma associated with going to the nurses office to take medication.”

 

thanks for posting the news clip.
"Earlier this month, an FDA panel of independent experts voted to recommend that the patch's label encourage its use as an alternative treatment for children between the ages of 6 and 12 with ADHD, meaning doctors should prescribe it only if taking pills is too difficult for a child."

I am interested in the patch for my son, aged 17, whose difficulty in taking pills is remembering to do it. As someone once said, "If they can remember to take their medicine they are probably not ADD!"   

He can forget to take them between the time his watch beeps and when he takes out the pill case. I've found him at the computer, not realizing the case is in his hand (for 30 minutes mind you), pills ready to take, but fully engrossed the computer. I just love it My dad was just like this!