Did the Neurontin lawsuit fuel health spending?

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – In 2004, Pfizer, the world’s largest drug company, agreed to plead guilty and pay more than $430 million to settle charges it had illegally marketed the epilepsy drug Neurontin for unapproved uses. Now, a study in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry questions whether the lawsuit ended up fueling spending on other epilepsy drugs instead of curbing so-called off-label prescribing. Doctors are allowed to prescribe drugs for uses that haven’t been approved by U.S. health regulators, but companies are prohibited from marketing their products for such purposes. …