Health Canada is informing Canadians that it has instructed Shire BioChem Inc., the manufacturer of ADDERALL XRŽ to withdraw the drug from the Canadian market. Health Canada has suspended the market authorization of the product due to safety information concerning the association of sudden deaths, heart-related deaths, and strokes in children and adults taking usual recommended doses of ADDERALLŽ and ADDERALL XRŽ. The immediate release form of ADDERALLŽ has never been marketed in Canada.
Should I be worried?
I wouldn't worry too much. Health Canada is just being extra cautious while it investigates these cases. From what I understand, none of the cases were in either Canada or the US. There could be some extenuating circumstances that we don't know about, like some rare pre-existing condition in these individuals, mismanagement of prescription, some weird cultural food allergy/interaction, all of the above.... who knows.
There is always two sides to every story. Out of the millions upon millions of people on Adderall XR, twenty-some odd deaths is not really a huge worry, when you get right down to it.
Health Canada has always been famous for yanking a product at the first hint of a problem. It can be a little annoying to the people who have been on the med for years and years without any problems. They have to start from scratch with something else.