Are the ADHD medicines Concerta and Ritalin the same thing?”
Both Ritalin and Concerta are brand names for the chemical methylphenidate. It appears that Ritalin LA and Concerta are equivalent, in that they are both designed as time-release capsules, where a 10mg Ritalin LA dose is equivalent to two consecutive 5mg Ritalin doses. The main difference is that Ritalin is manufactured by Novartis, and Concerta is manufactured by a subsidiary of McNeil-PPC, which is currently owned by Johnson & Johnson.
