Novartis Pharma Makes Move to End Addiction of Depression Drug

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Novartis Pharma Makes Move to End Addiction of Depression Drug

(September 21, 2007) -- THE ASAHI SHIMBUN - A pharmaceutical company plans to end health insurance coverage for the stimulant drug Ritalin in treating depression because widespread abuse of the system by patients and doctors has led to a number of addictions.

Novartis Pharma KK, based in Tokyo's Minato Ward, produces and distributes Ritalin, a central nervous system stimulant containing methylphenidate hydrochloride that has been approved as an anti-depression medicine.

The company will soon ask the health ministry to withdraw the drug from the list of medicine considered effective against depression under the Pharmaceutical Law.

If the withdrawal of Ritalin from the list is accepted, use of the drug for depression will not be covered by health insurance.

Patients can still obtain Ritalin, but they will have to use their own money.

The company hopes the extra personal cost for Ritalin will prevent or end people's addiction to the drug.

After receiving the withdrawal request, the ministry will consult the Pharmaceutical Affairs and Food Sanitation Council to make a final decision.

According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, it is extremely rare for a drug maker to seek the withdrawal of its medicine due to improper use.

Novartis Pharma earlier discussed the matter with academics and psychiatrists.

In 1958, when Ritalin was approved for use in Japan, patients with mild cases of depression could use the drug.

However, in 1998, Ritalin was designated for use only for sufferers of intractable prolonged depression.

In 1978, Ritalin was also put on the list of drugs effective against narcolepsy, a disorder involving the frequent and uncontrollable desire to sleep.

Ritalin is also used to treat children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

The company fears that people have become addicted to the state of arousal caused by Ritalin, and that people are faking symptoms of depression to get prescriptions for the drug.

Narcolepsy, on the other hand, can be diagnosed with electroencephalographic tests and other scientific means.

Novartis Pharma will not remove Ritalin from the list for narcolepsy or ADHD.

Ritalin is not the only drug for depression. There are new medications on the market that are just as effective as Ritalin for patients of depression, the company said.

Novartis Pharma said that since the mid-1990s, it has given documents to doctors containing strict guidelines on diagnoses of patients and prescriptions of Ritalin.

But some doctors have apparently given out prescriptions too easily.

According to a survey conducted in 2004 by a study group of doctors of the Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology, nearly 30 percent of the doctors who responded said they saw patients who had developed a chemical dependency on Ritalin during the previous year.

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A total of 33.7 million Ritalin tablets were sold in 2006, up 20 percent from 2002.

On Tuesday, the Tokyo metropolitan government conducted an on-site inspection at a clinic in Shinjuku Ward on suspicion that a doctor gave an improper prescription to a patient who became addicted to Ritalin.

Source: IHT/Asahi: September 21,2007

Last updated: 09/07

Novartis Pharma Makes Move to End Addiction of Depression Drug

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