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Sciatica drug Pregabalin no more effective than placebo: study

Thursday, 23 Mar 2017 11:08:43 | Penny Timms

Sciatica is usually felt in the lower back and limbs. (Flickr: Christian Bucad)

A drug commonly used to treat the painful condition sciatica is no more effective than a placebo, researchers have found.

Key points:

  • In its second year of listing, the drug's use was about 30 per cent more than predicted
  • Twice as many people from group taking active medicine reported side effects
  • In rare cases drug has been associated with suicidal thoughts and actions

Sciatica is an uncomfortable condition that causes searing pain, tingling or numbness to shoot along the sciatic nerve, and is usually felt in the lower back and limbs.

The drug used to treat the condition, Pregabalin, has been available through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) since 2013, and has been successfully used to treat certain nerve conditions.

However, its effectiveness in treating sciatica was unknown, a fact that worried researchers, especially given its popularity.

Researchers at the George Institute for Global Health recruited a group of patients for a test to uncover its effectiveness.

"We randomly gave half of those people the active medication, and half of the people the inactive medication," Associate Professor Christine Lin said.

"What we found was that in both groups of people, they improved over time.

"But there was actually no difference on the important clinical outcomes in those two groups of people."

Professor Lin estimated that between 200,000 and 400,000 Australians are affected by sciatica.

"I think this speaks to the unfortunate situation that most treatments we've used for sciatica don't actually work," she said.

"So when this drug first came onto the Australian market it became the new hope."

Drug 'may have harmful effects'

Professor Lin said one of the concerns they had, which led them decide on conducting the study, was that when the drug became available in Australia it turned out to be more popular than anyone had expected.

"It's been widely used by prescribers — in its second year of listing the use was about 30 per cent more than the government predicted," she said.

"So it just shows how popular it has been.

"And there's also information suggesting that this drug may have harmful effects for patients."

Twice as many people from the group taking the active medicine reported side effects, compared to those on the placebo.

Dizziness was the most common side effect, though in rare cases the drug has also been associated with suicidal thoughts and actions.

"We hope that this study sends a strong message to doctors and patients out there who are considering using this medication for sciatica," Professor Lin said.

"Because what we found was the patients do not get better with this medication, but they actually had more side effects."

Professor Lin said it was important that patients currently taking Pregabalin do not take themselves off the medication cold turkey, or without consulting their doctor first, as it needs to be done in a controlled environment.

The study has been published in today's edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.

AustraliaPlus


 

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