Neurontin Abuse
Neurontin was introduced in 1994 by Warner-Lambert to help
maintain the company’s epilepsy franchise. The popularity of the
drug far exceeded predictions that within five years annual sales would
reach $100 million, instead passing $900 million in 1999. The FDA approved
Neurontin only as a supplemental drug to help combat epileptic seizures,
as a treatment for Lou Gehrig’s Disease, attention deficit disorder
and drug and alcohol seizures.
Despite the surge in sales, Neurontin’s popularity had nothing
to do with a growing epilepsy target, but doctors began prescribing Neurontin
for indications besides what was FDA approved to treat. Although Neurontin
was being prescribed for ailments it was not approved to treat, including
pain caused by nerve damage due to conditions like shingles and diabetes,
companies are not allowed to promote drugs for unapproved uses. In May
2004, Pfizer agreed to pay more than $430 million to settle charges that
a Warner-Lambert unit promoted Neurontin, since Pfizer acquired Warner-Lambert
in 2000.
According to the drug’s labeling, Neurontin abuse and dependence
potential “has not been evaluated in human studies.” Under
federal law, the FDA and DEA work together to prevent abuse of prescription
drugs. The difficulties with any pain drug is the testing it must go through
for abuse and addition, for which other classes of drugs do not need to
be tested. Since Neurontin was FDA approved mainly as an epilepsy drug,
Neurontin abuse and addiction was not studied like it has been for Pfizer’s
successor to Neurontin, Lyrica, which gained approval to treat nerve pain
associated with diabetes and shingles in December 2004.
More than 70 percent of Neurontin sales come from uses besides epilepsy,
mostly for pain management, which increases the likelihood of Neurontin
abuse without the drug having to go through the stringent testing other
pain drugs must go through for approval. Although worldwide sales for
Neurontin totaled $481 million in the fourth quarter of 2004, the figure
reflected a decline of 39 percent compared to the same period in 2003
because of the availability of generic versions of Neurontin.
Neurontin and Addiction
Neurontin addiction has been the subject of recent debate
in terms of off label drug marketing.
Neurontin is one of the best selling drugs in the world,
with annual revenues totaling at almost three billion dollars. This drug
has not achieved these sales numbers because of prescriptions administered
for its approved uses. It is estimated that between seventy to ninety
percent of all Neurontin prescriptions are sold for off-label use.
In terms of off-label use of Neurontin, addiction treatments
have also incorporated using Neurontin to treat seizures associated with
drug and alcohol withdrawal. Neurontin addiction therapy is also utilized
to treat cocaine addictions. Though often prescribed in Neurontin addiction
therapy, there is no evidence to suggest that taking Neurontin helps treat
the seizures associated with drug and alcohol withdrawal.
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