New Drug Can Treat Unresponsive ADHD in Children

In some children and young adults, traditional attention-deficit hyperactivity (ADHD) medication seems to have little to no effect. For these particular, difficult-to-treat cases, researchers say that GXR (guanfacine extended release) – brand name Intuniv – may come in very handy.

Usually, doctors prescribe psychostimulants such as Ritalin to children suffering from ADHD. What the new study demonstrates is that GXR can be added to the usual mix of drugs in order to boost their overall efficiency, PsychCentral reports.

In a paper published in the latest issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (JAACAP), the research team describes how Intuniv increases the efficiency of established ADHD drugs substantially.

The team was led by Dr. Timothy Wilens, who is the director of Substance Abuse Services in the Clinical and Research Program in Pediatric Psychopharmacology and Adult ADHD at Massachusetts General Hospital.