Hello everybody. I just read the July 2006 issue of
WorstPills newsletter (available only by subscription)
& I'll share some of the info with you. For more info
about the publication see
http://www.worstpills.org/

There is an article called " The Danger of Prescribing
without Proof: Examples of Prescriptions for Drugs Not
Shown to be Safe and Effective". One of the drugs
discussed in the article is Neurontin. It says

"Gabapentin (NEURONTIN) was approved by the FDA for
treating seizures, a market with a relatively small
potential. The manufacturer of the drug, Parke-Davis
(now Pfizer), conducted an economic analysis and
determined that it would be more cost-effective to
promote gabapentin for off-label uses using
ghostwritten medical journal articles rather than
going through the FDA’s drug approval process.

This “publication strategy” transformed the drug into
a blockbuster, with sales approaching $1.5 billion in
2001. Gabapentin was promoted illegally for uses such
as bipolar disorder, attention deficit disorder and
migraines (see Worst Pills, Best Pills News, May
2002).

The Archives of Internal Medicine study discussed in
this issue pointed out that 83 percent of gabapentin
prescriptions are for uses that have not been shown to
be safe and effective according to FDA standards.

Gabapentin is still one of the most frequently
prescribed drugs in the United States. In 2005, more
than 1.5 million prescriptions were dispensed for the
drug, with sales topping $250 million. If 83 percent
of prescriptions for gabapentin are for off-label
uses, then more than $211 million was wasted on the
drug in 2005. Belatedly, the number of prescriptions
and the sales of gabapentin have decreased more than
85 percent since 2004.

There have not been a large number of reports of
adverse drug reactions associated with the off-label
use of gabapentin. However, patients can be harmed in
ways other than needless adverse drug reactions.
Patients can be harmed economically when they are
paying for a drug that is not safe and effective when
effective drugs are available, often at a lower cost."

Going back to the May 2004 article mentioned above, I
found the following:

Neurontin (GABAPENTIN) - The Illegal Corporate
Creation of a Blockbuster Drug
Worst Pills Best Pills Newsletter article May,
2002

"A March 14, 2002, New York Times article revealed
that the manufacturer of the seizure medication
gabapentin (NEURONTIN) illegally promoted the drug to
prescribing physicians for at least 11 “off-label”
(unapproved) medical conditions, using their own
employees, euphemistically called “medical liaisons.”
Many of the bases for the safety and effectiveness of
gabapentin for these 11 unapproved uses appears to
have been fabrications by the corporation. This
included paying physicians to appear as the authors of
medical journal articles on unapproved uses for
gabapentin when the articles had actually been written
by others working under the direction of the company’s
marketing department.""

One of the fabricated off label uses was RLS.

" Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS). This is another
condition in which company medical liaisons were
trained to refer to a growing body of evidence
relating to the RLS, when no such scientific data
existed. The only reports were anecdotal, the majority
of which had been sponsored or created by
Parke-Davis."

In Worst Pills Best Pills Newsletter article
September, 2002 . "Update on the Illegal Promotion of
Gabapentin " conculdes with

"The message for patients is that if you have been
prescribed a drug for an off-label use, the evidence
supporting such a use may be good or it may be
fabricated. The doctor prescribing the drug may have
based the decision to use the drug on an expensive
dinner, received a kickback or was bribed, or was
simply fooled by a fabricated medical journal
article."

Food for thought.

Why do you take Gabapentin?

1- because it makes you sleep through the sensations
or movements ?
2- because it stops the sensations or movements ?
3- because your doctor prescribed it & he must know
what he is doing?

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