Emails suggest Pfizer tried to suppress study on drug

[Akoto]

Top drug company marketing executives suppressed a large European study suggesting their blockbuster medication Neurontin was ineffective for chronic nerve pain, and they privately strategized about how to silence a British researcher who wanted to go public with the data, according to newly filed documents and e-mails that are part of a Boston court case.

During the same period of several years, Pfizer Inc. launched an advertising blitz promoting the purportedly positive findings of a smaller Neurontin study it had published in a major medical journal - including showing a video to airline passengers before their in-flight movie.

The widespread promotion of Neurontin turned what had been a relatively minor epilepsy drug into one of the fastest-growing blockbuster drugs in the world, one that generated more than $2 billion a year in US sales for Pfizer before a generic competitor entered the market in 2004.

Taken together, the e-mails and other internal Pfizer documents produced as part of a potential class action lawsuit against the company represent one of the most detailed looks yet at how a drugmaker controls what physicians and consumers know about a drug.

LINK: http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/10/08/e_mails_suggest_pfizer_tried_to_suppress_study_on_drug/

Very worrisome story for me, as I am currently taking Lyrica, Pfizer's "modernized" Neurontin!

[silverojo]

1. I'm on the generic Neurontin, gabapentin

And yes, it does ease the pain. I'm sick and tired of people complaining about drugs that DO help, and yet dangerous drugs like Compazine are used without question.

[endthewar]

2. Agreed.

It's one thing to claim that a company tried to hide safety data. It's another thing to cry about a company hiding efficacy data.