Development history of pregabalin (Lyrica)

Abstract

Neuropathic pain is now defined by the International Association for the Study of Pain as pain caused by a lesion or disease of the somatosensory nervous system. The guidelines recommend tricyclic antidepressants, gabapentin or pregabalin, and duloxetine, a serotonin noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor, as first line. Mirogabalin, which is a novel ligand for the a2d subunit of voltage-gated calcium channels, is being developed for treating neuropathic pain including diabetic peripheral neuropathy and postherpetic neuralgia. In this review, serendipitous discovery of pregabarin by Richard Silverman is discussed.