Hands Off Off-Label Prescribing

As someone who has benefitted enormously from the off-label prescribing of anti-convulsants, including gabapentin I find infuriating that this cadre of so-called researchers continue to imply that research conducted by private companies or on behalf of them is not only suspect but downright worthless and further, that off-label drug prescribing is based on an even more bastardized form such clinical information. That is not surprising since most, if not all, off-label uses are based upon clinical observations or a deeper understanding of disease mechanisms that are developed by the original use of the medicine. In fact, the critics — who have their own biases which are sustained by their own funding sources (thus, they too are financially conflicted) will be hard put to demonstrate any off-label use is any different than other domains of medical progress insofar as they are confirmed or disproved by clinical trials or rigorous observational data. People tend to forget that the first off-label use of a cancer drug (AZT) was critical in in the treatment of HIV patients or that the off-label use of thalidomide and Avastin have been associated with remarkable advances in treating cancer. The push to make off-label prescribing a criminal activity is a tragedy that will be measured in human lives…