What is "pemoline"

n. A medication used to treat ADHD and narcolepsy, having similar action to methylphenidate.

Pemoline is a stimulant drug of the 4- oxazolidinone class. It was first synthesized in 1913 but its activity was not discovered until the 1930s. Under the names Betanamin, Cylert, Tradon, and Ceractiv it was used as a medication to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and narcolepsy. Under the Convention on Psychotropic Substances, it is a Schedule IV drug. It is no longer generally available in the United States as a result of the FDA withdrawing approval of pemoline as an indicated treatment for ADHD, due to its implication in liver failures among children who were receiving the medication. An FDA Alert warned against prescribing pemoline for ADHD. This spurred Abbott Laboratories, the patent owner of Cylert, to cease manufacturing Cylert. Manufacturers of the generic equivalents followed suit.