Hi, I think Neurontin is a placebo, it did absolutely
nothing for me,
James.

--- Mary Smith <filmfest12@...> wrote:

> 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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