A clinician’s guide to ADHD treatment options

ABSTRACT

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a prevalent neurodevelopmental condition of children and adolescents that often persists into adulthood. Primary care physicians are commonly the first to diagnosis ADHD and initiate a treatment plan with the patient. Guidelines recommend psychostimulant treatment as a first-line therapy in the management plan because it has a substantial impact on alleviating the core symptoms of ADHD. The recent development of a variety of methylphenidate and amphetamine formulations provides many options to meet individual patient lifestyle needs. Liquid, chewable, sprinkled capsule, wearable patch, and orally disintegrating tablet formulations are currently available for patients who may be noncompliant with or have difficulty swallowing traditional pills. This review provides a resource for physicians to identify the stimulant delivery formulation that best suits the patient. Formulations in development are also discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• ADHD
• amphetamine
• methylphenidate
• psychostimulant
• psychiatry
• drug delivery

Acknowledgments

Medical writing support was provided by Nicole Seneca, PhD, of AlphaBioCom, LLC, and was funded by Neos Therapeutics, Inc.

Declaration of interest

G Mattingly reports grants from Akili, Alcobra, Boehringer, Lundbeck, Jansen, Reckitt Benckiser, Rhodes, and Vanda; grants and personal fees from Alkermes, Forest, and Forum; and personal fees from Merck, Otsuka, Perdue, Shire, Supernus, Sunovion, and Takeda. A Rostain reports honoraria from Alcobra, Ironshore, Lundbeck, Shire, and the National Football League; and royalties from Routledge/Taylor Francis. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

Additional information

Funding

This manuscript was funded by Neos Therapeutics, Inc.