Shares in DepoMed, a small pharmaceutical enhancer, spiked Monday after the company announced that the FDA had approved the use of its drug Gralise, an oral treatment for postherpetic neuralgia, a complication of shingles that causes sustained pain in nerve fibers and skin.
Instead, doctors found that Neurontin helped with many other ailments, particularly pain caused by nerve damage due to conditions like shingles and diabetes. (This is called neuropathic pain.) That put Warner-Lambert in a bind, because it could not promote the drug for these unapproved uses.
They include acne drug Sotret, epilepsy and nerve pain drug gabapentin, and antibiotic ciprofloxacin.
Not only does forward head posture cause nerve pain, Collie says it can also create metabolic problems.
Originally an epilepsy medication, Neurontin wound up being used mostly for treating other disorders, particularly pain caused by nerve damage.
In September 2004, the FDA had rejected Pfizer's claim that Lyrica could be used to treat anxiety as well as epilepsy and nerve pain.
Although Neurontin was originally approved as an epilepsy drug, doctors often prescribed it for pain due to nerve damage from diabetes or other illnesses.
Pain is another nerve-related symptom susceptible to treatment by placebo.
ECONOMIST: Alternative medicine: Think yourself better | The
Lyrica was finally approved on the last day of 2004--but solely as a treatment for pain due to nerve damage from shingles or diabetes and as a controlled substance.
"Terry trained yesterday but, at the end of the training session, he had pain on his nerve in his hamstring and we had the test this morning, " he said.
For instance, Pfizer 's (nyse: PFE - news - people ) Neurontin, initially an epilepsy drug, became widely used for pain caused by nerve damage and anxiety.
The device is implantable under the skin near the spinal cord, programmable by a clinician, and used to deliver medications for the treatment of severe chronic pain due to nerve injuries and cancer.
FORBES: Medtronic Sees Revenue Growth Despite Unaddressed Quality Concerns
The idea of using a leukemia drug for stomach cancer, an anti-seizure drug for nerve pain, a cancer drug for gout all were impactful suggestions proposed by physicians or researchers outside the company developing the drug.
Pfizer said that its Lyrica, a follow-up to the blockbuster epilepsy and nerve pain drug Neurontin, has been associated with a few cases of muscle weakness, but that the company is still expecting U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for the long-delayed drug.
The three existing trials look at the medicines' effects on cancer pain and brachial plexus injury - a severe form of nerve-damage pain, as well as general MS pain.
Already, Pfizer's sales are flat because of generic competition for products like antibiotic Zithromax and nerve-pain drug Neurontin.
The brain's normal pain-sensory system, in which nerve endings send messages to the brain about a threat, goes awry in migraines.
Postherpetic neuralgia affects your nerve fibers and skin, and the burning pain associated with postherpetic neuralgia can be severe enough to interfere with sleep and appetite.
Among other treatments, doctors can block nerve transmission with local anaesthetic can also help disturb pain messages.
He theorized that the pain-dulling effect also owed to feedback from the lungs back up through the vagus nerve to the brain.
应用推荐