Adjunct Treatment With Cariprazine for Adults With Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
Status:
Not yet recruiting
Trial end date:
2023-04-14
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
According to the Canadian ADHD Practice Guidelines, psychostimulants are the preferred
treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), especially for those that
require urgent care. Specifically, long-acting psychostimulants are considered the
gold-standard pharmacological treatment for ADHD. Using extended-release formulations,
long-acting psychostimulants provide an extended duration of daily symptom relief in addition
to overall reductions in ADHD symptoms that are maintained over time.
In accordance with these guidelines, clinicians may combine psychostimulants with other
medications when it is considered necessary. For complex cases, psychostimulants alone are
often inadequate for improving the effects of ADHD and are therefore prescribed in
conjunction with other medications. At low doses, antipsychotics have been considered
appropriate adjunctive medications. Studies show that most adult cases with ADHD that were
undiagnosed or untreated in childhood result in the need for adjunctive medication in
adulthood to enhance the effects of the psychostimulant. As a result, it is hypothesized that
adjunct treatment with a low dose of cariprazine, an atypical antipsychotic, will enhance the
effectiveness of standard ADHD treatment with a long-acting psychostimulant in a subset of
the ADHD population that achieved little to no response on psychostimulants alone.