Pfizer Accused of Deception on Neurontin | Newsweek Health

Posted By: qzw890 @ 10/20/2008 3:07:51 PM

Comment: I have been on a fairly high dose of Neurontin for 8 years. It has been a life-saver for me. Because of the pain and sensations I experience, even when I have missed a dose by a couple of hours, there is no doubt in my mind that I would have commited suicide by now. I even worry more about running out of it than I do the opiate that I take for the condition. I am not saying that there might not be problems with the way Pfizer handled the trials and reporting, but I can tell you by personal experince that IT DOES work for neuropathic pain. I would testify in any courtroom to its effectiveness; at least for my condition which resulted from a broken ankle after a fall at work.

Posted By: swillden @ 10/14/2008 7:08:47 PM

Comment: I have just been prescribed Neurotin and have been on it for ten days. I have diabetes and was waking up nightly to horribly itchy burning feet. I had tried Lyrica in the past and although I liked the relief of symptoms I didn't like the total zombie it turned me into. My neurologist prescribed Neurontin and Requip in combination for my foot neuropathy and restless leg syndrome and I am actually able to sleep at night. YEAH! I hate taking six more pills every day but it HELPS and it is working!

Posted By: phoebecash @ 10/11/2008 12:53:09 PM

Comment: In 1989 I had a radical hysterectomy for cancer. little did I know It would cause other problems. such as permanent nerve damage and neuralgia. I went to Doctors for 12 years with no results. All that time I took pain mediucation and it still didn't control my pain. I would lose 2 and 3 days every couple months to such severe pain that I would be in bed or the hospital;. One time I took 12 pain pills in a 13 hour period and still ended up in the hospital getting shot up with 50mg of demerol. I would end up in the hospital every 2 to 3 months because of hte pain. I got to be on a first name basis with the ER doctor. He would see me and shoot me up immediately and then we would run all kinds of tests. I finally switched to my husbands Doctor and we tried different things such as prozac and sertraline and others. we tried to go with out pain killers. It didn't work. He sent me to a pain management clinic where after the first visit they diagnosised me with neuralgia and started trigger point injections. They are supposed to last for 30 days, I could even make 3 weeks. After 3 tries we went to medications. no pain killers because I was tired of losing days of my life to them. We tried Neurontin and I was up to 15 capsules a day. I did this therapy for a couple of years when I saw a report about the Wellbutrin SR. I went to my doctor with it and we gradually weaned the neurontin down to one a day with one Wellbutrin a day. I did this for years. I am 51 and no longer take the medicine. I can say if it hadn't been for neurontin I dodn't know where I would be today. That drug saved me. The reason I went to my doctor is because I wanted to get away from taking so much medicine. I hate to take medicine. i never had a problem with the drug, but everyone is different. What works for one person doesn't work for everyone. I know that drug companies are devious and will do anything to get Doctors to use their product. I worked in pharmacies for over 20 years and saw first hand their lies and games. Anything for the bottom line. The sad part is that they hurt alot of people in the process.

Posted By: just a reader @ 10/10/2008 7:20:48 PM

Comment: I took Neurontin at the max dose for several years for idopathic prepherial neuropathy. It helped a little. I tried Lycria for a short time, no help. The most effective drug I have taken is Bupropian SR (Wellbutron) 150 mg twice a day. I've been taking it for 6 years and It has been a lifesaver for me.

Posted By: Frankly4uSpeak2 @ 10/10/2008 6:39:47 PM

Comment: Now I understand better what the fruits of dishonesty fed by profit maximization are. Needless agonizing suffering might have been avoided for me. I started to take this medicine for severe neuropathic pain and reached the therapeutic level of of 3600 mg/day. I gained a huge amount of weight, had cold sweats, and the pain got no better. Added to that was severe leg swelling for the first time in my life. I'm so fortunate my pain physicians believed me when I said it wasn't doing me any good. I tried Lyrica later and my leg swelling became permanent. It helped my pain very little and was close to $1,000 per month. The worst thing is that the time waiting for these meds to work meant months more waiting for adequate pain control. I wish my doctors had been informed earlier of the negative study results. It might have saved me from months of suffering in terrible pain.

Posted By: lfen @ 10/10/2008 2:56:44 PM

Comment: Isuffered unbearable pain after a back injury. Iwas diagnosed,peripheral neuropathy I took Neurontin for several years, before generic gabapentin came on market.. Some times it works at keeping pain bearable,other times it doesnt work. I must have regular checkups, because it can cause kidney problems.
Should I be more concerned?

Posted By: neurofon @ 10/09/2008 7:54:39 PM

Comment: It is awfull to know that pfizer were misleading us about gabapentin. As a nurosurgeon I did believe their claims. and now we find they were not true. And I demand myself .With other medications do they do the same? Do other companies insert themselves in the same practices? Hard to answer, hard to believe in then anymore.

Posted By: Conker @ 10/09/2008 1:41:00 PM

Comment: I suffer from chronic neuropathic pain due to a rare form of bone cancer I had ten years ago. I visited a pain clinic because I was desperate to get the pain under control and they told me Neurontin would be a very good solution. I should have taken a hint from the Neurontin advertisements plastered on their walls but I was really wanted to find some way of controlling the pain. They started me on a low dose and worked me up to a fairly high dose. They then told me to follow-up in a year. The side effects were awful. I became extremely anxious and would often break out into cold sweats. I did not completely realize that these side effects were due to the Neurontin until I stopped taking it and found that the symptoms disappeared. As for helping with the pain, I cannot say that it had any effect whatsoever.

Posted By: leecee @ 10/09/2008 7:00:29 AM

Comment: I am a senior citizen and am taking several medications. Some time ago, because of all the bad publicity surrounding so many of the newer drugs, I now take the most effective of the older drugs and have found no difference in the effectiveness. I do not trust the drug companies to act in the patients' best interest and even believe that to sell their newer drugs, the drug companies will say or do anything. I have never asked my doctor about any drug advertised in the media and refuse to watch their commercials - always mute.

Posted By: dr doug @ 10/08/2008 6:50:32 PM

Comment: Wow ! I take 2400 mg of Gabapentin (Neurontin) daily for neuropathic pain. I guess it works (but I take other strong pain medications as well)... I'm really kinda confused and I don't want to take one more pil than is necessary.

Posted By: uno08 @ 10/08/2008 4:23:09 PM

Comment: My father died 1 month ago because they couldnt stop his seizure. It lasted for 6 days. He has no hx of seizure disorder.

Posted By: C. MacLean @ 10/08/2008 3:36:52 PM

Comment: As a nurse who watched patients participate in the original studies of many of the AIDS cocktail drugs in the early '90's, none of this information surprises me. When the urgency of politics and profits were thrown into the mix, the results were drugs rushed to market before we really knew what the long-term side effects were. Many suffered because of it.

Drug trials are performed on humans, by humans. Error is inevitable, even when unintentional.

Out right fraud and deception for the sole purpose of profits, however, is criminal. And when you have an industry that is based on profit first and health second, criminal acts are also inevitable.

It is time we took a hard look at the pharmaceutical industry. For starters, it is time to get drug advertising off television. (Remember - Pfizer is the company that brought us Viagra, and the spector of erectile dysfunction straight into our living rooms.)

Both Obama and McCain's health care proposals talk about reducing costs by relying more on evidence-based medicine. They - and the rest of us - may want to think long and hard about what that really means.

Posted By: irina991ph44580 @ 10/08/2008 3:25:12 PM

Comment: srf1535,08102008.
so, qhat the justice department has for police,officers these days, I have a polymorphic,probilibitySpace
of these antibiotics on deposit: why does warafin always spell war,on,drugs....
clie,irinaSaint.,hannahHM,.mylo1537dgz

Posted By: IKnowBetterThanThis @ 10/08/2008 3:03:51 PM

Comment: NEURONTIN WORKS for NEUROPATHY at HIGH DOSES! Don't be fooled by the report. The report may have had people at low doses and not followed blood titers ... talk to your Neurologist!

Posted By: IKnowBetterThanThis @ 10/08/2008 3:01:59 PM

Comment: Neorontin Works for Neuropathic Pain. I took a high dose for years to control facial (trigeminal neuopathy) and back (thoracic verterbrall area) that destroyed my life. Neurontin allowed me to function(true that I have had memory problems and sleepiness but took the max dose for years spread out over the day to keep my blood titer up). I have replaced the Neurontin with Lyrica (at the max dose split over the day) and it works (but not as well). I could not go through my life and work as the engineer/computer scientist I am and the small biz owner I am ... and even sit in a chair or stand or keep my left eye open or swallow my own spit) without it.

Posted By: fbgweezer @ 10/08/2008 3:00:46 PM

Comment: I was prescribed and took Neurontin about 7 - 8 years ago for chronic back pain after surgery. It did not help with the pain and I hated the side effects. I quit taking it after about 6 - 7 months because of the side effects.

Posted By: noughtagroos @ 10/08/2008 2:53:06 PM

Comment: I've been taking gapapentin for 6 years for neuropathic pain, and it works better than anything else I've taken. I take near the maximum dose, and I do have some minor side effects. But this stuff does relieve most of the excruciating pain.

It's not just a placebo.... there are subtleties in how the drub works that my mind could never have kicked up on its own.

Posted By: sthrlndk @ 10/08/2008 2:52:09 PM

Comment: I'm concerned about this because I am taking Lyrica for fibromyalgia. As I understand it, Lyrica is closely related to Neurontin. I honestly don't know if the Lyrica is working but I am in so much pain sometimes I don't know what else to do. I did gain 35 pounds within 3 months of taking it. I wonder if I should bring this article to my doctor or will it make him nervous? I am not looking for a lawsuit or to blame anyone, I just want some answers about whether this is safe or not.

Posted By: djhouston @ 10/08/2008 2:36:13 PM

Comment: Oh, and another thing. Couldn't tell if Lyrica did as good, because basically it was like anesthesia to me. Took at bed time, got knocked out, and when I woke up the next day, I was still sleepy, but the pelvic pain was still there.

Posted By: djhouston @ 10/08/2008 2:31:30 PM

Comment: This is a big surprise and shock to me. I have had neuropathic pelvic pain since prostate cancer surgery injured nerves in there, and generic gabapentin is the only thing that has made it totally go away (I won't take amitriptyline, the other nerve pain drug, because of all the bad side effects for people my age-for over 50s, memory problems). If this is a placebo effect, when other things didn't work, then I don't mind paying generic prices for this placebo. Guess my pelvic nerve pain is really all in my head.

Posted By: Tommy-joe @ 10/08/2008 2:01:26 PM

Comment: As a practicing pharmacist for over 30 years in both hospital and retail, I can tell you that Pfizer's actions are the status-quo. Readers are right to question the legitimacy of Lyrica also.
Funny how a manufacturer always has a better drug "waiting in the wings" when one of their money makers loses its patent. Usually, though, they don't go to the effort to actually come up with a new entity, they just modify the old drug by changing its release mechanism from immediate release to slow release, then convincing the FDA and physicians that this is miraculously more effective, (Ambien to Ambien CR), changing the salt form of the drug- ie from an HCl to a Napsylate, for instance, therefore changing the drug to renew the patent, but the effective drug remains the same, (Darvon to Darvocet), etc. etc. etc. Sometimes the change the strength by a few milligrams (an insignificant amount) but heavily promote the new strengths prior to losing patent on the old strengths, so physicians will write for their new strenght of the drug and not the old, just as effective strenghts. There are hundreds of examples-- all with the intent of screwing the patient (and physician) and increasing profits. This is one industry where new rules need to be implemented to protect the consumer and oversight increased.

Posted By: lmasure @ 10/08/2008 1:21:04 PM

Comment: My doc put me on this crap for my chronic pain - it did not work, and only caused worse side effects that prompted me to stop taking it. I once almost fell asleep at the wheel with my 3 yr old in the car, I gained a considerable amount of weight, and literally couldn't hold a conversation because I would immediately forget what the hell I was talking about. I felt like an idiot and avoided people at all costs while on this medication, all while my doc insisted that incresing the dose would help with the pain. Well, it didn't, and apparently he got his info from these messed up studies. Reading this article - now I'm pissed. I went thru about a year of completely rediculous side affects I didn't have to if they just would have been honest. How do I get on the list for suing these people as well?? It's worth thinking about, that's for sure. That stuff was the absolute WORST medication I've ever been on, and with all my medical problems - I take a lot of them.

Posted By: al75 @ 10/08/2008 12:49:39 PM

Comment: I'm a psychiatrist and have prescribed neurontin - and many other drugs - off-label, with mixed results. Personally I believe off-label drugs can be extremely valuable at times. The problem is the pervasive power and influence of pharma marketing at every stage of drug development and use in practice. Promoting off-label drug use is just a tiny aspect of the problem. There is very little public funding for psychiatric research - much of it is controlled by pharma "philanthropy". Psychiatry itself has become distorted by the emphasis on psychochopharmacology, and under-training of clinicians in other treatment modalities. What do we need? Better leadership and training - and funds to back it up from the NIMH - and strict, enforcable ethical rules. National laws for mandatory disclosure of gifts/funds from pharma companies is a simple first step.

Posted By: PurpleLady @ 10/08/2008 12:41:50 PM

Comment: I took 8 caplsles a day of Neurontin a day for over a year, and then kept getting more meds to treat new symtoms. Little did I know that the symtoms were from taking the Neuronin. I was up to 18 pills a day before the doctor told me to start

Posted By: slbtaz @ 10/08/2008 12:40:43 PM

Comment: This is one more example of a HUGE company with only their interest in mind. What happened to the concept of being in this for the actual patients that need a viable solution to real pain? Pfizer, along with alot of other big drug companies, look at the bottom line. Who cares if it will actually alleviate someones suffering, we need to keep the money rolling in. My husband lost his arm in a near fatal car accident in April of 07. He was placed on Neurontin for the off label use to control the agonizing phantom pain. He suffered for over a year with increasing doses every few months and very minimal pain relief before being taken off and placed on something else. He now has elevated liver and kidney numbers as a consequence. These lawsuits are a drop in the bucket for the big companies. Their deceitful greediness will leave an indelible mark on the lives of the very people they should be helping. Where can he sign up for the lawsuit?

Posted By: PurpleLady @ 10/08/2008 12:39:29 PM

Comment: I was taken 8 capsules of Neurontin a day for over a year for treatment of migraines triggered by a bulging disk in my neck. By the time I figured out this wasn't working I was taking 4 other meds and not remembering what month it was. 18 pills a day by the time my doctor said I could start weening off of themIt took me over a year.. What kind of damage did I do to myself? I never had migraines before I was overloaded with meds. Now I have them enough to start worrying that there has been permanent damage done. I want to be in on the class action suit.

Posted By: ajeskin @ 10/08/2008 12:34:56 PM

Comment: I tried Neurontin for a while for migraines many years ago, but it was a dud. My neurologist kept telling me it was supposed to be very good, but I knew better. It did absolutely nothing for migraine pain. Having worked for a number of health care-related companies, I knew all about the aggressive and manipulative marketing techniques of drug companies, so I suspected that Neurontin was just the latest "drug du jour" that the manufacturer needed to sell to raise its revenue. ... What really bothers me is that when there is clearly not a big enough market (not enough "sick" people who really need the drug) for the manufacturer to make the profit they want, they try to create a market. Besides conning physicians into prescribing it off-label, they directly target the patient with advertising. And because patients just want to feel better, they're usually willing to try any drug that promises to do that for them--even if it's a lie, or it costs too much.

Posted By: thedubrat @ 10/08/2008 11:44:42 AM

Comment: This is really, really, really a sad thing. Those of us who depend on these drugs to help us want to scream at you right now! I mean it! Really Scream! I can't afford all of my meds and here you are making the hollidays even worse. Ugly, just ugly!

Posted By: HadEnough! @ 10/08/2008 11:42:58 AM

Comment: My psychiatrist put me on Neurontin when it first came out, to treat my depression and anxiety. At that time it was being advertized as an anti-seizure medication. I questioned my doctor about this and he told me not to worry, he was prescribing it to me based on it's side effects! I refused to take it after a few months because it was ungodly expensive and it wasn't even working. If I had known about the first lawsuit I would have joined it in a heartbeat. I've long thought the pharmaceutical industry was way out of control. Why do we expect our politicians to fix this mess, when they take donations from these companies?

Posted By: dubldoc @ 10/08/2008 11:37:07 AM

Comment: And despite all the evidence, some of my colleagues in Psychiatry are STILL using this for Bipolar disorder...what a joke...well, actually not, since consumers are getting ripped off. At least on the upside, Medical schools and Scientific journals are now taking a much harder look at drug Co. studies and marketing!

Posted By: cdshe @ 10/08/2008 11:24:44 AM

Comment: As a nurse who has been involved in drug trials (briefly) before I felt like I had to take a hot shower to get the stink off me, I know the pressure trial doctors are under to make the drugs look good. Double or triple blind controls are a joke. Almost within the first two or three weeks we knew which patients were on the trial medications at full dose and which were on placebo and which were on low dose. We were "encouraged" gently or not by the physicians or drug company reps to guide their commnets and side effect comments or symptom reports. It was dirty business. I HATED it. Having young children it looked like a dream job for a nurse. Regular hours, no shifts, no call. But within six months I was back in the Emergency room doing shifts, and call again. I felt clean and sweet after my shifts no matter what I had on my scrubs and no matter how sweaty and dirty I was. Take that to the bank!!!

Posted By: isaicon @ 10/08/2008 9:46:35 AM

Comment: I wonder what this says about Lyrica, the replacement for Neurontin, after it went generic ? I am taking it now, and it is expensive. I question if it is really working, as this neuropathic pain I am taking it for is intermittent at times. I think scotch is just about as effective and I can almost buy a case of it for the same price. Only issue with that is, the insurance won't cover the scotch !

Posted By: isaicon @ 10/08/2008 9:42:42 AM

Comment: What now are we supposed to believe about Lyrica, the tweaked version of Neurontin they came out with when Neurontin went generic ? I am taking Lyrica now for neuropathic pain and cannot really tell if it is working or not.
It is expensive, and I am considering just switching to scotch, as it is less expensive by far, and a little more enjoyable. isaicon

Posted By: C. MacLean @ 10/08/2008 8:31:33 AM

Comment: As a nurse who watched patients participate in the original studies of many of the AIDS cocktail drugs in the early '90's, none of this information surprises me. When the urgency of politics and profits were thrown into the mix, the results were drugs rushed to market before we really knew what the long-term side effects were. Many suffered because of it.

Drug trials are performed on humans, by humans. Error is inevitable, even when unintentional.

Out right fraud and deception for the sole purpose of profits, however, is criminal. And when you have an industry that is based on profit first and health second, criminal acts are also inevitable.

It is time we took a hard look at the pharmaceutical industry. For starters, it is time to get drug advertising off television. (Remember - Pfizer is the company that brought us Viagra, and the spector of erectile dysfunction straight into our living rooms.)

Both Obama and McCain's health care proposals talk about reducing costs by relying more on evidence-based medicine. They - and the rest of us - may want to think long and hard about what that really means.

Posted By: abcxyz123 @ 10/08/2008 8:08:15 AM

Comment: Well this sure explains a lot.... I was prescribed Neurontin (in conjunction with other meds) by my pain mgmt doc hoping neurontin would ease chronic nerve pain rather than upping opioid meds. During the last 5 years of my battle with pain I actually tried Neurontin TWICE. I wanted to be sure I had really given the medication a reasonable chance to work. The dose was upped and upped until the side effects became too uncomfortable to tolerate. We assumed I was just too sensitive to this medication and could not reach an effective dose. I can't tell you how disgusted I am! It is bad enough I'm dealing with this because of someone elses's stupidity but to be further abused is a total insult. These guys need to walk a mile in the shoes of those they've hurt the most.... the ones who are trying to find a way to cope with neverending pain who just want to find a way to get through life. I'm surprised that the insurance companies haven't stepped up to challenge the Pharmas.

Posted By: rainwalker @ 10/08/2008 5:48:58 AM

Comment: Wow! Are we surprised? It seems that pill pushers are more concerned about recovering profits, than recovering patients. This is what happens when regulations are decreased. Are species, as a whole are a greedy bunch, and we need to be regulated, including homiopathic medicines,

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