How Big Pharma Markets to and Profits from a 'Can't-Pay-Attention Nation'

Having chemically saturated the youth market, the drug marketeers for powerful stimulants like Adderall are now bringing their message to the adult masses  (Public domain)

Recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that the number of children on medication for ADHD soared from 600,000 in 1990 to 3.5 million today. Sales of stimulant medication in 2012 were nearly $9 billion, more than five times the $1.7 billion a decade before, according to the data company IMS Health.

Read the article which follows and the in-depth investigation published by the New York Times on 16 December showing that the meteoric rise of diagnoses of ADHD was, in fact, fueled by an industry-led marketing campaign that targeted struggling children, worried parents, and an army of doctors willing to diagnose and prescribe. With the children’s market booming, the industry is now employing marketing techniques as it focuses on adult ADHD, which could become even more profitable.

How Big Pharma Markets to and Profits from a 'Can't-Pay-Attention Nation'
by Jon Queally, staff writer, Common Dreams, 16 December 2013

A twenty-year marketing campaign has made highly powerful stimulants into household names... and they're just getting started

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