First Generic Versions of Lyrica Approved by FDA – Pain Medicine News – based on a press release from the FDA – July 2019
The FDA approved the first generic versions of the pain medication pregabalin, the agency announced. It accepted multiple applications, granting approvals to nine manufacturers, including Teva Pharmaceuticals.
I have to wonder why *nine* manufacturers are lined up to sell this medication. Competition “should” lower the price, but that’s not how things work in pharmaceutical pricing.
Currently manufactured by Pfizer as Lyrica, pregabalin is a gabapentinoid indicated for the management of neuropathic pain associated with diabetic peripheral neuropathy, postherpetic neuralgia, fibromyalgia and neuropathic pain associated with spinal cord injury.
Pregabalin was initially developed as an antiepileptic medication.
And it’s probably much more effective as an antiepileptic medication than as a pain medication.
In recent years, recommendations and guidelines have encouraged the use of pregabalin, along with other nonopioid medications, as first-line treatment for neuropathic pain, such as in postherpetic neuralgia.
Guidelines have encouraged the use of medications that are most often ineffective for our chronic pain. It seems like any drug that’s not an opioid is “recommended”, whether it works or not.
Studies have also shown pain relief benefits from prescribing pregabalin in combination with gabapentin for neuropathic pain.
That’s the first I’ve heard of this combination.
EDS and Chronic Pain News & Info 
My daughter-in-law took Lyrica for a few months, but as she initially told doctor, she couldn’t afford them.She didn’t have insurance at the time. They told her not to worry when she ran out. She started having seizures and almost died. I really hope my PM doc doesn’t insist on the combo if Lyrica and gabapentin. This is all so screwed up.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Responses to Lyrica vary widely, so I’m glad we can at least try it. When I started using it on an as-needed basis, my opioid usage dropped by about 25% because it seemed to help certain kinds of vague pains that opioids didn’t help much.
However, I’d be leery of using it regularly because it has strange effects – extreme short-term memory problema in me.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Lyrica seems to work for diabetic peripheral neuropathy and nerve pain but has been marketed widely for any and all pain. They did not do any research on older people who are diabetics taking multiple medications, and cognitive decline. It is really clear that kind of research could cut into profitability. These drugs have been highly marketed as alternatives to opiates, and the number of suicides, attempted suicides and ER admission due to these drugs have not been counted. They also conveniently did not count the number of “overdoses” due to these drugs.
They may have chose 9 companies, because they have to. These companies can decide that producing these drugs is not profitable enough and stop making them. Teva raises eyebrows, since they are an Israeli owned company, and have been the subject of a lot of lawsuits, fraud charges and price fixing. https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/teva-faces-shareholder-suit-following-520m-bribery-fine Teva is clearly being hyped by the Investment industry due to their “low stock prices” due all of their criminal activity. If our politicians were smart they would have forced them to provide these drugs at a discount as part of their punishment. Instead they are endorsing a corporation that routinely violates the law!
The FDA is controlled by industry interests and have been covering for various industry interests, they are not doing any rigorous scientific quality control. https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-care/how-tainted-drugs-get-market-make-sick-patients-sicker-n954786 They no longer inspect overseas drug factories, where most of these pharmaceuticals are produced. I experience cognitive dissonance every time they claim that importing cheaper pharmaceuticals from Canada is dangerous. Most of these pharmaceuticals are manufactured in India and China anyway. https://camargopharma.com/resources/blog/foreign-inspections-by-fda The pharma industry regularly cries about too much regulation, as the FDA cut the positions of inspectors. The same same kind of regulatory capture and industry influence that led to the so called opioid crisis.
“The FDA requires that generic drugs meet rigorous scientific and quality standards. Efficiently bringing safe and effective generics to market so patients have more options to treat their conditions is a top priority for the FDA.”
What we have here is a massive media coverup, since media owners profit from health information. That CBS article did not inspire any action, by our politicians, pharma come out with a compelling counter narrative about “innovation.” The FDA above statement is mere propaganda. They only thing here is protecting profits, not the public. Our shameful politicians are all bought and paid for by the industry. The media did very little or no follow up of any of these outrageous factual claims. I predict that foreign countries that used to have faith in the FDA approval process are going to rethink that. The device debacle should have brought some scrutiny, there is still a massive cover up, https://www.healthexec.com/topics/policy/fda-end-alternative-summary-reporting Many medical providers refused to treat people with these devices as they found it more profitable not to. The true costs to CMS (Medicare) and the Taxpayers has not been fully explored.
State medical boards hid this data, which included suicides, and multiple surgeries where people had multiple surgeries to remove these devices and implants. Some of the recipients of these devices drank themselves to death, and many were near death when these devices were implanted, for a profit.
On the topic of marketing, JUUL fully exploited “Wellness” to market their products to kids.
https://khn.org/morning-breakout/at-house-hearing-details-emerge-about-how-juul-funded-summer-programs-to-teach-kids-healthy-habits-paid-schools-10k-to-come-talk-to-students/
LikeLike
I agree that the pharmaceutical industry is operating a terrific con job, even though they do manage to bring some darn useful medications to market. I hate being dependent on an industry that’s clearly profiteering from the misery of humanity.
In modern life, we are all much more interdependent. The complexity of modern life makes us all dependent on systems and industries we don’t even really want to be associated with.
LikeLike