A small study has found that after just three months, children treated with the common ADHD drug methylphenidate had a three-fold increase in cellular abnormalities linked with cancer.
The researchers who conducted the study, at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB), aren’t suggesting that parents take children off the drug&emdash;sold under such well-known brand names as Ritalin and Concerta.
However, says principal investigator Marvin Legator of UTMB, the study does suggest that the drug is an additional risk factor for cancer&emdash;if the findings hold up.
Widely prescribed
Methylphenidate is the most widely prescribed of a class of amphetamine-like drugs for ADHD.
While the drug has been approved for human use for more than 50 years, Legator and colleagues say there are few studies in animals or humans on the potential for serious side-effects such as cancer.
A 1996 report on animal studies showed that the highest levels of methylphenidate caused liver tumors in male and female mice, but similar studies in rats found no such effect.
