With gabapentin safety back in the news and Pfizer’s public image renewed after COVID, it’s time to remember the Neurontin scandal — a case study in corporate marketing, medical risk, and forgotten accountability.
When Doctors Became Victims
Dr. Doug Alsberge of Seattle and Dr. Douglas Briggs of North Carolina were respected physicians and family men. Both suffered back pain and were prescribed Pfizer’s Neurontin (gabapentin), promoted as a safe treatment. Both later took their own lives.
Debbie Alsberge said her husband grew agitated and sleepless on Neurontin. “We didn’t know his extreme internal restlessness was akathisia, which is linked to suicide,” she said. In 2003, Doug ended his life at 52. Only later did she learn of studies connecting the drug to suicidal thoughts.
Robin Briggs told a similar story. Her husband, a Princeton-educated family doctor, became withdrawn and moody after taking Neurontin. On Christmas Day 2004, he urged his family to go to a movie. When they returned, they found he had taken his life. He was 54. “He didn’t know his suicidal thoughts were drug-induced and not his own,” she later said.
Off-Label Marketing and Ghostwritten Science
Neurontin was only approved for epilepsy, but Pfizer and its subsidiary Parke-Davis turned it into a billion-dollar pain and mood drug through off-label marketing. Sales reps distributed “reprints” from ghostwritten medical articles promoting unapproved uses.
Pfizer pled guilty to criminal marketing in 2004 and again in 2010, yet still earned $387 million from Neurontin in 2008.
Even worse, some studies praising the drug were never real. Dr. Scott Reuben, once a top pain researcher, admitted he fabricated entire trials funded by Pfizer. He went to prison for research fraud in 2010.
Regulators and Corporate Integrity
By 2008, the FDA had received hundreds of reports of suicide linked to epilepsy drugs like Neurontin and required new warnings.
But senior FDA official Dr. Robert Temple downplayed the problem, suggesting the patients were already “at risk.” That remark seemed to absolve the drug and blame its users.
Pfizer soon launched Lyrica, a similar drug marketed in much the same way. The company promoted it aggressively even while under a federal Corporate Integrity Agreement meant to prevent further misconduct — its third in a decade.
From Scandal to Salvation
Pfizer’s reputation changed dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The company that once paid record fines became a public health hero. Its CEO, Albert Bourla, was praised worldwide. Few remembered its earlier record of misconduct, which included illegal trials in Nigeria, deceptive marketing of Bextra and Geodon, and withdrawal of the leukemia drug Mylotarg after fatal side effects. But later, studies around Pfizer’s COVID product showed deadly ingredients such as SV40.
In one 2010 week alone, Pfizer suspended multiple clinical trials, faced a congressional probe, and settled lawsuits over its drug marketing. Yet its operations continued largely unaffected — proof, critics say, that fines are seen as a cost of doing business.
Lessons Forgotten
For families like the Alsberges and Briggs, the Neurontin story never faded.
“We must have full and accurate facts about a drug’s risks to make good decisions,” Debbie said. “We cannot do that if pharmaceutical companies bury harmful evidence.”
As gabapentin risks resurface and new lawsuits emerge, Pfizer’s record demands fresh scrutiny.
The Neurontin scandal reminds patients and physicians alike that drug safety depends not on corporate promises, but on transparency, evidence, and accountability.
This news was inspired by current events and Martha’s book, Big Food, Big Pharma, Big Lies, featured on C-SPAN and praised by Library Journal, Public Library of Science, the Times Literary Supplement and Vice. Connect with Martha at her substack.