Ditziness - it's not just blondes
It’s a pandemic. Adults, getting half-way to work before they remember that they forgot to stop by Starbucks on their way in. They were distracted. They have adult Attention Deficit Disorder. All the papers reported it today with headlines like “Adult Use of ADHD Medicines Surges.”
Golly – use among women aged 20-44 rose 113% between 2000 and 2004. How on earth were all those ditzy broads coping before they were diagnosed and treated for their ditziness? And how did it happen that all of a sudden, women in that age group started dropping brain cells to the degree that they needed pills to help them remember to keep at least one hand on the steering wheel while applying lip stick?
A quick trip to the Shire Pharmaceuticals website sheds some light on this shocking new phenomenon.
In March 2005, Shire’s CEO made a presentation to Merrill Lynch folks in New York. Slide 5 notes the 2004 FDA approval for adult use of Adderall XR, their ADD/ADHD drug. The slide also indicates that the FDA has granted them 6 months of additional market exclusivity.
And Slide 6 is a list of bullets related to the New River Agreement. I’m not sure what that is, but it is clearly a financial winner for Shire and is directly related to selling Adderall XR to the new adult market.
Shire’s March 2004 presentation to the Bear Stearns London Healthcare Conference indicates that sales of Adderall XR are still one of the company’s strengths and that something to look forward to, emerging data, is that “SPD503 is a novel non-stimulant for the treatment of ADHD.”
What is SPD503? you ask. I’ll tell you what Shire states as the profile:
-- Guanfacine originally used off-label in refractory ADHD patients or in those with contraindications to stimulants
-- Non-scheduled, non-stimulant compound
-- Established safety profile for active ingredient in adults
-- On approval, will be the first guanfacine product licensed for ADHD
-- Novel, patent protected, once-daily formulation of guanfacine
-- Shire holds license to use-patent in ADHD
-- Paediatric phase III started February 2003
Oh – and that the target filing date to get approval of this drug is in 2005 and that patent protection will last until 2015 (slide 25).
Then there’s the presentation Mr. Shire CEO made to Lehman Brothers Global Healthcare in March 2005 where he shares information that Adderall XR Adult which received FDA approval in August 2004, remains Shire’s “largest opportunity” (slide 4). While Slide 9 shows that Shire has four more ADHD drugs in Phase 3 development. Slide 12 indicates that Adderall XR is Shire’s most profitable drug with $606.7 million in sales in 2004, a 28% increase over 2003 sales of just $474.5 million.
I could go on. I won’t. But is it any surprise given what you now know about Shire’s passion for developing ADHD medicines, and their promise to shareholders to create a new adult market for ADHD, that adult ADHD diagnoses and prescriptions for treatment have increased by over 100% between 2000 and 2004? The kids prescribing rate has “only” increased by 54% in that same period.
Since most kids outgrow being kids, the rascals, Shire strategically set about to patent the first adult ADHD medication. The beauty of adult ADHD is that once you’ve been diagnosed, you never outgrow it! You’re an Adderall customer for life! Goodness knows you don’t want to return to your previous, pre-drug state of ditziness…
Get a life. Take our pills.
Golly – use among women aged 20-44 rose 113% between 2000 and 2004. How on earth were all those ditzy broads coping before they were diagnosed and treated for their ditziness? And how did it happen that all of a sudden, women in that age group started dropping brain cells to the degree that they needed pills to help them remember to keep at least one hand on the steering wheel while applying lip stick?
A quick trip to the Shire Pharmaceuticals website sheds some light on this shocking new phenomenon.
In March 2005, Shire’s CEO made a presentation to Merrill Lynch folks in New York. Slide 5 notes the 2004 FDA approval for adult use of Adderall XR, their ADD/ADHD drug. The slide also indicates that the FDA has granted them 6 months of additional market exclusivity.
And Slide 6 is a list of bullets related to the New River Agreement. I’m not sure what that is, but it is clearly a financial winner for Shire and is directly related to selling Adderall XR to the new adult market.
Shire’s March 2004 presentation to the Bear Stearns London Healthcare Conference indicates that sales of Adderall XR are still one of the company’s strengths and that something to look forward to, emerging data, is that “SPD503 is a novel non-stimulant for the treatment of ADHD.”
What is SPD503? you ask. I’ll tell you what Shire states as the profile:
-- Guanfacine originally used off-label in refractory ADHD patients or in those with contraindications to stimulants
-- Non-scheduled, non-stimulant compound
-- Established safety profile for active ingredient in adults
-- On approval, will be the first guanfacine product licensed for ADHD
-- Novel, patent protected, once-daily formulation of guanfacine
-- Shire holds license to use-patent in ADHD
-- Paediatric phase III started February 2003
Oh – and that the target filing date to get approval of this drug is in 2005 and that patent protection will last until 2015 (slide 25).
Then there’s the presentation Mr. Shire CEO made to Lehman Brothers Global Healthcare in March 2005 where he shares information that Adderall XR Adult which received FDA approval in August 2004, remains Shire’s “largest opportunity” (slide 4). While Slide 9 shows that Shire has four more ADHD drugs in Phase 3 development. Slide 12 indicates that Adderall XR is Shire’s most profitable drug with $606.7 million in sales in 2004, a 28% increase over 2003 sales of just $474.5 million.
I could go on. I won’t. But is it any surprise given what you now know about Shire’s passion for developing ADHD medicines, and their promise to shareholders to create a new adult market for ADHD, that adult ADHD diagnoses and prescriptions for treatment have increased by over 100% between 2000 and 2004? The kids prescribing rate has “only” increased by 54% in that same period.
Since most kids outgrow being kids, the rascals, Shire strategically set about to patent the first adult ADHD medication. The beauty of adult ADHD is that once you’ve been diagnosed, you never outgrow it! You’re an Adderall customer for life! Goodness knows you don’t want to return to your previous, pre-drug state of ditziness…
Get a life. Take our pills.
posted by Donna at 10:27 p.m.
2 Comments:
My husband has ADHD... he keeps hoping he'll get Ritalin, lol.
If everone had ADHD would it still be a disease? If most people over 60 had HBP would it be a disease? When does something become a deliberate commercial modification of the human condition?
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