Sally Shaywitz, MD, Yale University, and coauthors from the Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity (New Haven, CT); Lilly USA, inVentiv Health Clinical, and Indiana University School of Medicine (Indianapolis, IN), AVIDA (Newport Beach, CA), University of California San Francisco, and University of North Carolina, School of Medicine (Chapel Hill, NC), conclude that the improvement in reading measures associated with atomoxetine use in this study helps support proof-of-concept for the ability to improve dyslexia with medication. Atomoxetine is a selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor. The researchers treated children and adolescents who had either dyslexia alone, ADHD and dyslexia, or ADHD alone with atomoxetine (1.4 mg/kg/day) or placebo over a 16-week study period. They describe the study design, results, and implications of their findings in the article entitled "Effect of Atomoxetine Treatment on Reading and Phonological Skills in Children with Dyslexia or Attention-Deficity/Hyperactivity Disorder and Comorbid Dyslexia in a Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial."

"Dyslexia is the most common learning disorder that affects millions of children. This study gives a new potential treatment option that deserves our attention and further study," says Harold S. Koplewicz, MD, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology and President of the Child Mind Institute in New York.

http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/cap.2015.0189