FDA WARNS OF SERIOUS RESPIRATORY PROBLEMS WITH GABAPENTIN

Life-threatening breathing difficulties can occur in patients who use gabapentin or pregabalin with opioids or other drugs that depress the central nervous system, as well as those with underlying respiratory impairment and the elderly, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned in a drug safety communication. 

 

Reports submitted to the FDA and data from the medical literature show that serious breathing difficulties can occur when gabapentinoids are taken by patients with pre-existing respiratory risk factors. Among 49 case reports submitted to FDA from 2012 to 2017, 12 people died from respiratory depression with gabapentinoids. All of them had at least one risk factor. 

 

Source: Megan Brooks, Medscape News [12/10/19] via Dr. Joseph Borreggine

Courtesy of Barry Block, editor of PM News