The legal status of a widely used prescription drug is to be reviewed after a sharp rise in the number of deaths linked to its misuse, a investigation has learned.
Pregabalin, prescribed more than nine million times in England last year, has the fastest-rising mortality rate of any prescription medicine in the UK and, also according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), has been cited in a third of drug-related deaths.
While stressing properly prescribed pregabalin was safe and effective in treating conditions including anxiety, nerve pain and epilepsy, University of York addictions expert Professor Ian Hamilton warned: “Not only can it be fatal in terms of overdose, but also people tend to use it with other drugs including heroin and alcohol.”
The Home Office told the North West Investigations team it was intending to “carry out an updated harms assessment” for gabapentinoids including pregabalin.
As a Class C controlled drug since 2019, it is illegal to either possess it without a valid prescription or supply it to others.
The NHS website states some users can become addicted to pregabalin., external
According to the ONS, it was cited on 1,625 death certificates in England and Wales in the five years to 2023 – nearly four times the number recorded in the previous five years.
The ONS also confirmed more than 90% of people who died from pregabalin poisoning had other substances in their system.
Taken together, opiates and pregabalin slow down users’ breathing.
While an emergency antidote called naloxone works against opiates, it does nothing to counteract the effects of pregabalin.