Gabapentin

The drug that didn't do much off-label

The Frontier Psychiatrists is a newsletter. It’s also now a podcast. It is also now a live event production workshop, also! We have our first live event on the Sunday night before JPM Healthcare 2024. It’s called Rapid Acting Mental Health Treatment 2024, and you should get your ticket now!

But today, we bring you another installment in our exploration of the small molecule oral medicines of yesterday….

As a brief plug, I work at Fermata, and I don’t do small molecule pharmacology first line any more. I still see patients, who live in states in which I’m licensed and for research by the way!

Gabapentin is a misleading name for a drug—it has no activity at GABA receptors. The brand name is Neurontin, now a part of the Pfizer family of pharmaceuticals.

“It is of paramount importance that the Department use every legal tool at its disposal…to pursue companies and individuals…that inflict suffering on patients and families”

—US Attorney Michael Sullivan, Regarding Marketing of Gabape…