MONDAY, Aug. 21 (HealthDay News) -- Advisory boards, continuing medical education, influential physicians, and sponsorship of research and publications were used in the marketing and promotion of gabapentin (Neurontin), particularly to encourage off-label prescribing, according to a report in the Aug. 15 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Michael A. Steinman, M.D., and colleagues from the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the University of California, San Francisco, examined approximately 8,000 pages of publicly available court documents to study how gabapentin was promoted by Parke-Davis, a division of Warner-Lambert, in terms of medical education, research, and publication. Warner-Lambert was acquired by Pfizer in June of 2000.
Gabapentin was initially approved in 1993 to treat partial complex seizures, but was often prescribed for off-label uses such as pain and psychiatric conditions, leading to litigation that was settled in 2004, according to the authors.
The researchers found that Parke-Davis delivered promotional messages through advisory boards, consultants meetings, and continuing medical education. Local champions and thought leaders (influential physicians affiliated with major academic medical centers) were used to promote gabapentin to their physician colleagues. The company also sponsored trials to encourage off-label prescribing, with plans to suppress unfavorable results, and paid medical communication companies to publish articles about gabapentin.
The study "points out in stark detail that no patient is well-served when a manufacturer engages in practices, whether inside or outside the law, that involve physicians in activities in which conflicts are present," Jane E. Henney, M.D., of the University of Cincinnati in Ohio wrote in an accompanying editorial. "But physicians are not passive participants: They can say 'No'."
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