Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Saturday 5 May 2018
Drug epidemic ensnares 25-year-old pill for nerve pain

By MATTHEW PERRONE problems emerging and ens the overdose risks. uled substance," placing needed, including possibly
WASHINGTON (AP) — The we waited for more defini- Gabapentin, on the mar- it among other high-risk reclassifying it nationwide.
story line sounds familiar: tive conclusions," Gottlieb ket since 1993, has long medicines subject to extra Like others, Peckham says
a popular pain drug be- said. "I don't want to be been considered nonad- restrictions and tracking. gabapentin is not danger-
comes a new way to get sitting here five or 10 years dictive and is not tracked Gabapentin was detected ous on its own, but can be
high as prescribing by doc- when combined with opi-
tors soars. oids and other drugs that
But the latest drug raising suppress breathing.
red flags is not part of the Still, there is little consen-
opioid family at the cen- sus about the next steps,
ter of the nation's drug or even the scope of the
epidemic. It's a 25-year-old problem. Michael Polyde-
generic pill long seen as fkis, a neurologist at John
a low risk way to treat sei- Hopkins University who pri-
zures, nerve pain and other marily treats seniors with
ailments. The drug, called nerve pain, says he has
gabapentin, is one of the never seen patients delib-
most prescribed medica- erately misuse gabapentin.
tions in the U.S., ranking And given recent restric-
ninth over the last year, tions on opioids by hospitals,
according to prescription insurers and government
tracker GoodRx. Research- authorities, many physi-
ers attribute the recent cians are wary of limiting
surge to tighter restrictions any other medicines that
on opioid painkillers, which can help treat pain. The
have left doctors search- Center for Disease Control
ing for alternatives for their and Prevention's prescrib-
patients. Those same forc- ing guidelines endorse ga-
es are changing the drugs This Thursday, May 3, 2018 photo shows bottles of gabapentin at Daniel's Pharmacy in San Fran- bapentin as a good choice
that Americans abuse, ac- cisco. The 25-year-old non-opioid pain drug is one of the most prescribed medications in the U.S., for nerve pain.
cording to experts. ranking ninth over 2017, according to prescription tracker GoodRx. But there are questions
"We're basically squeezing about how much is be-
people into other drugs ing prescribed for proven
because the prescription from now lamenting that as closely as riskier drugs in a third of fatal overdose uses — and to what extent
opioids are becoming a we didn't take more ag- like opioids. But calls to cases analyzed by Ken- patients are benefiting. A
lot harder to get," said Dr. gressive action." U.S. poison control centers tucky medical examiners in recent review of research
Richard Dart, who tracks Many doctors aren't aware show a stark rise in abuse 2016. Now, only health pro- by the Cochrane Group
drug abuse through a na- of gabapentin's poten- and overdoses. fessionals registered with confirmed gabapentin's
tional data network owned tial for abuse, particularly The abuse rate increased the federal government benefits for several forms
by the state of Colorado. among those with a history nearly 400 percent be- can prescribe the drug and of nerve pain, but found
While prescriptions for opi- of misusing drugs, said Ra- tween 2006 and 2015, ac- patients are limited to five little evidence of its effec-
oids like Vicodin and Oxy- chel Vickers Smith of the cording to poison center refills. tiveness for more common
contin have been falling University of Louisville. data analyzed by the RA- Ohio, Minnesota, West Vir- muscle and joint pain.
since 2012, health regula- People tracked in her re- DARS research group with- ginia and several other Historically, the vast major-
tors have seen increased search describe gabapen- in the Denver Health and states have begun tracking ity of prescriptions have
overdoses with unexpect- tin as a "cheap high" that is Hospital Authority, a state- gabapentin through their been for uses not OK'd by
ed medications, including almost "always available." owned health system. The prescription databases. the FDA as safe or effec-
the over-the-counter diar- They report mixing the drug group's work is funded by Ohio took that step after tive. "This drug was kind of
rhea drug Imodium. with opioids, marijuana drugmakers and govern- gabapentin became the unusual in that it was pre-
The Food and Drug Ad- and cocaine to enhance ment agencies, though most dispensed drug in the scribed as a kind of miracle
ministration is now study- the high, with effects rang- they don't participate in state. State surveys of drug pill that could be used for
ing patterns of prescribing ing from "increased energy" the analysis or publication users also indicated it was anything," said Dr. Joseph
and illicit use of gabapen- to a "mellow" numbness. of the data. "extremely easy to get" with Ross, a researcher at Yale
tin and will soon share its Medical journal articles es- In some parts of the U.S., the a street price around $1.50 University's school of medi-
findings, said Commissioner timate that between 15 rise in gabapentin abuse per capsule. cine. In a recent Journal of
Scott Gottlieb. and 25 percent of opioid has led to new restrictions Alyssa Peckham, a re- the American Medical As-
"One of the lessons from abusers also use gabapen- and surveillance. searcher at Midwestern sociation, he called for new
this whole opioid crisis is tin. And emerging research Last year, Kentucky be- University in Arizona, be- studies of gabapentin's re-
that we probably were too suggests combining gaba- came the first state to clas- lieves a more comprehen- al-world use. With tighter re-
slow to act where we saw pentin and opioids height- sify the drug as a "sched- sive federal response is strictions and a lone manu-
facturer, Lyrica has not
seen the same problems
as gabapentin. "Pfizer rec-
ognizes the importance of
preventing the misuse and
abuse of our medicines
and will continue working
with regulatory authori-
ties and health officials to
monitor the safety of these
medicines," the company
said in a statement.q