Medicine Information

Neurontin Lawsuit: Neurontin Off-Label Abuse Lawyer


Pfizer is currently marketing Neurontin as an oral medication for managing postherptic neuralgia, the pain that lingers after shingles has healed. This is an FDA-approved use, and studies have shown that Neurontin works to reduce patients' pain. It is a good drug, with many useful applications and few negative side effects, but it has a surprisingly long and sordid past.

Neurontin was originally approved in 1993 for the treatment of partial seizures in adults and children, especially epileptic seizures. However, this limited market for a drug with so few side effects was not enough for the company, Warner-Lambert. The company set up a massive campaign to improve sales of Neurontin, and it worked. By 2002 Neurontin was a $2 billion dollar drug, outselling even Viagra. How did a little epilepsy drug come to claim such a huge number of patients? It did so illicitly.

There are not enough patients suffering from epilepsy that one drug could earn profits of $2 billion a year. In order to claim these kinds of profits, Warner-Lambert began promoting the drug for off-label uses. The company sent representatives directly to doctors, urging them to prescribe Neurontin for to treat not only epilepsy but also bipolar disorder, alcohol withdrawal, cocaine abuse, HIV/AIDS neuropathy, phantom limb pain, anxiety, and a host of other diverse and unrelated conditions.

Though it has since been shown to work for some of these conditions, it was not clear at the time exactly what Neurontin did. The Warner-Lambert salesmen were lying to doctors about what Neurontin could do, and the doctors were listening. While it is illegal for a drug company to promote off-label uses directly and immoral to bribe doctors into prescribing a certain drug, it was also absolutely dangerous to claim Neurontin could cure disorders that it simply couldn't.

For example, Neurontin has no effect on bipolar disorder. Warner-Lambert sold thousands of doctors on the idea that Neurontin should be prescribed for bipolar disorder. If it did not work, they suggested increasing the dosage. One of the drug company managers told a salesman: "I don't want to see a single patient coming off Neurontin before they've been up to at least 4,800 milligrams a day. I don't want to hear that safety crap either.... It's a great drug." An untold number of bipolar patients were taken off their FDA-approved medication and prescribed Neurontin alone. Although Neurontin has few side effects, it also did nothing for their disorder, leaving these patients effectively unmedicated. Nobody knows how many lives were shattered as a result, but unmedicated bipolar disorder has a mortality rate of 55-60%.

Luckily for the public and patients taking Neurontin, a Warner-Lambert sales representative came forward and revealed the entire scandal. Pfizer has now purchased the Warner-Lambert Company, making Pfizer responsible for the injuries caused by the drug it now profits from. Lawsuits are being filed to claim damages for the dangerous corporate marketing strategies that have caused so much pain. If you or someone you love was wrongly administered Neurontin, please contact a lawyer and discuss your options.

To find out why you need a Neurontin lawyer and read articles about dangerous drugs and Neurontin side effects, visit our website at hugesettlements.com.

If you have any questions or concerns about filing a Neurontin lawsuit, please contact a professional Neurontin attorney right away!


MORE RESOURCES:

National Museum of Health and Medicine reopening on 150th anniversary
Washington Post
There's more than war in the Defense Department's refreshed and relocated National Museum of Health and Medicine, which will celebrate its grand reopening in Silver Spring on Monday. The arthritic skeleton of Peter Cluckey sits in its wooden chair, ...
Walter Reed medical museum reopening in Md.Marine Corps Times

all 6 news articles »


She says comics best medicine for troops
Albany Times Union
Empowered by her experience, Keegan wanted to share her "medicine for the mind" with US military service members abroad. In 2010, she founded the nonprofit Books for Troops, which has collected and mailed many thousands of paperbacks and magazines to ...



Sarasota Herald-Tribune

ADHD medicines need careful adjusting
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
The medicine is taking a lot of quality time out of this boy's life. I value any suggestions you have. — EK ANSWER: Your grandson has been labeled as having ADHD, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Children (and adults) with this problem find ...

and more »


Four Ways to Make Medicine More Like Facebook
Forbes
The stock market values Facebook as being worth nearly as much as Merck (annual sales: $48 billion) more than Sanofi (annual sales: $42 billion) and twice as much as Gilead, the leading maker of HIV medicines, or Medtronic, the medical device giant.

and more »


Fort Worth Star Telegram

Dr. House officially retires from TV medicine Monday
Fort Worth Star Telegram
Medicine is just a challenge to him, an intellectual Rubik's Cube. Yet if anyone addresses his lack of caring, House has a ready response. "What would you prefer?" he once asked. "A doctor who holds your hand while you die or one who ignores you while ...

and more »


Medicine Bow music teacher sings, plays, motivates
Casper Star-Tribune Online
John Steinhardt, aka Schizoid Johnny, cues one of his students during band practice at Medicine Bow Elementary School on May 15. Steinhardt has traveled the world as a professional musician in a “one-man band.” The multiple personalities he takes on ...



Govt funded medicine shops to come up in 600 districts
Business Standard (blog)
The Central government is planning to introduce fair-price medicine shops in 600 districts in the country, according to Union minister for Chemical and Fertilizer, Shrikant Jena. “We have set a goal to establish at least 600 shops in 600 districts.

and more »


"Alfalfa to Ivy": Memoir of a Harvard Medical School Dean
Boston.com
I just finished reading the recently published autobiography of Dr. Joseph B. Martin MD, former Dean of Harvard Medical School (1997-2007) and Dean of Medicine and Chancellor of the University of California, San Francisco, Medical School.



Center for Research on Globalization

BITTER "ECONOMIC MEDICINE": The First Domino Falls in Greece
Center for Research on Globalization
The media and politicians have portrayed the Greeks as indolent and stupid, refusing to swallow the economic medicine needed for a healthy recovery. But the austerity medicine of the bankers — slashing and privatizing the public sector, cutting wages ...

and more »


Medicine or food? Eye drops bring the problem into focus
Evansville Courier & Press
For example — do they pay for a bottle of medicine now and go without groceries for a while, or do they pay the rent and use what they would have paid for a prescription to buy gas to get to work. This whole issue came into crystal clear focus for me ...


Google News

home | site map | Dr. Thad Thomas
© 2006