Lyrica For Nerve Pain: Yet More Negative Advice

Today's post from vancouversun.com (see link below) is once again bad news for Pfizer, the manufacturers of Lyrica (pregabalin). Regular readers of this blog will know that it's very questionable if Lyrica should ever be taken for neuropathic problems. Pfizer themselves withdrew their own recommendation for Lyrica in these cases two years ago and haven't restored it since and the FDA also have issued negative advice for certain forms of neuropathy. Expensive law suits and side effects lists as long as your arm more or less forced them into taking that decision. Gabapentin and Cymbalta fall into the same category of less than effective drugs for nerve pain, with significant potential side effects. This article points out that new research has shown that most patients taking these drugs simply don't benefit from them...so why take them? Yet these drugs are growing in popularity among doctors and you have to ask why! Pharmaceutical companies however, are masters at persuasion but home doctors especially really need to do their own research.

Common drug for diabetic foot pain isn’t effective, B.C. researchers say 
By Erin Ellis, Vancouver Sun January 20, 2016

A report by the Therapeutics Initiative at UBC suggests Lyrica only helps about one in 10 of the people to whom it is prescribed.

A pain medication that rarely works as promised had a 17-fold increase in prescriptions over a decade, says the latest research from the Therapeutics Initiative at the University of B.C.

Its report says only about one in 10 patients will gain relief from pregabalin (trade name Lyrica), which is used to treat peripheral neuropathy — usually foot pain caused by diabetes — and other discomfort. Therapeutics Initiative is think-tank that reviews the usefulness of prescribed drugs and offers advice to B.C.’s doctors and pharmacists.

The latest work released Tuesday concludes that pregabalin, and two other painkillers studied, gabapentin and duloxetine (Cymbalta), all have little effect on pain despite extensive marketing campaigns promoting them.

Co-author Dr. Tom Perry, a clinical assistant professor in the department of anesthesiology, pharmacology and therapeutics at UBC, says doctors often tell patients to take these medications in higher doses and for a longer time than the evidence supports. Patients should know within days whether the medications are working for them, he says.

“These drugs are intended to make someone feel better; if you’re not feeling better, why take it?”

Perry and co-author Aaron Tejani, a clinical assistant professor in Pharmaceutical Sciences, looked information on gabapentin, pregabalin and a number of other medications gathered by Cochrane Reviews which evaluate scientific research from around the world. They found expectations of the drugs’ effectiveness far outstripped the evidence and likely drives an increasing number of prescriptions.

In B.C., pregabalin prescriptions rose 17 fold from 2005 through 2014, compared with a 1.8-fold increase in people receiving gabapentin.

Gabapentin is now available as a generic drug, but was formerly trademarked medication called Neurontin manufactured by Pfizer. The pharmaceutical giant agreed to pay $430 million in U.S. fines in 2004 after marketing it for unapproved uses such as migraine headaches and pain.

Combined costs of gabapentin, pregabalin, and duloxetine were over $52 million in British Columbia during 2014, says the Therapeutics Initiative report, of which Pharmacare paid over $13 million, mostly for gabapentin.

Pregabalin, also manufactured by Pfizer for neuropathic pain, is not covered under B.C.’s publicly funded Pharmacare following a recommendation by a national drug advisory committee in 2005. As a result, patients either pay for it out-of-pocket or through private health insurance,

Worse than simply buying a medication that’s not working, Perry says pregabalin is often prescribed to older adults who may become drowsy or lose their balance because of it.

Therapeutics Initiative is funded by the B.C. Ministry of Health through a grant to UBC.

eellis@vancouversun.com

http://www.vancouversun.com/health/common+drug+diabetic+foot+pain+effective+researchers/11662999/story.html