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Prescriptions for stimulants often used to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder surged during the pandemic, especially among adults, a new study found. The finding comes as one common ADHD treatment, Adderall, has been in shortage for months, in part because of high demand. (McPhillips, 3/30)

The study’s authors said the mental health impact of the pandemic may have exacerbated ADHD symptoms, while a federal effort to make it easier to get medical care online may have increased access to prescription stimulants. “The combination of potential increased need and reduced barriers to access prescription stimulants might have encouraged more adults with ADHD symptoms to seek diagnosis and treatment,” the authors wrote. Although that might have benefited those with such symptoms, “it might also have introduced the potential for inadequate ADHD evaluations and inappropriate stimulant prescribing,” they added. (Gilbert, 3/30)

The Biden Administration told the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday that it should agree to hear a patent appeal over drug labels involving Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc and GlaxoSmithKline LLC that could have significant ramifications for the generic-drug industry. The U.S. Solicitor General said Teva's generic version of GSK's heart drug Coreg could not have violated GSK's patent rights because Teva omitted the infringing use of the drug from its labeling. (Brittain, 3/30)

Prescription drug middlemen are shifting away from rebates that have been blamed in part for rising brand drug list prices and are using new tactics, including charging drugmakers and pharmacists increasingly larger administrative fees and overcharging for generics. But the outcome is the same for taxpayers and anyone in need of expensive medicines: higher costs. The changes came to light at a Senate Finance Committee hearing Thursday on the impact of PBMs on drug costs — a meeting that made it clear both parties are considering reining in common industry practices. (Wilkerson, 3/30)

When Christopher Duke’s frail, elderly patient needed her blood pressure prescription refilled last year, she did what she always does — she called Duke, a physician in Chevy Chase, Md. No problem, Duke told her, he would call it in to a nearby pharmacy. But there was a problem — because Duke couldn’t get anyone to answer his calls. Instead, he ran up against a frustrating new reality at many drugstores, especially those in big chains: As essential jobs at retail outlets go unfilled, and hours are reduced at many chains, the likelihood of spotty service and potential mistakes at pharmacies has grown. (Kaufman, 3/30)

Mark Hurst just wanted to kill some bugs. A newly credentialed bacteriologist working for the New Zealand government in the early 2000s, his job was to invent new and exciting weapons in the war against grass grubs, the squishy, ectoplasmic beetle larvae that had long bedeviled the islands’ farmers. (Mast, 3/29)