DRUGS used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder may put people at risk of sudden death through heart failure. That’s the fear of advisers to the US Food and Drug Administration, who on 9 February recommended that the drugs carry a prominent health warning. Controversially, the FDA is likely to reject this advice.
Nearly 4 million Americans with behavioural or learning difficulties are prescribed amphetamine-based stimulants such as Ritalin. The FDA asked its Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee to investigate 25 reports of sudden deaths among people taking the drugs, 19 of them children.
The panel voted eight…
