Background and objectives: Gabapentinoids are considered as a class of new antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) used in combination with standard AEDs to treat partial seizures. Gabapentinoids are also indicated for the treatment of other conditions, such as neuropathic pain, chronic muscle pain with fibromyalgia, and anxiety disorders. Drugs affiliated with the gabapentinoid class are considered clinically important because of their efficiency to treat multiple diseases. Srinagarind Hospital has adopted the Drug Utilization Evaluation (DUE) form to monitor and direct the application of this class of medicine, and the action conforms to the restriction of the Cabinet Resolution issued on February 3, 1998. The objective of this study was to examine the application trends of both the original and the generic types of the gabapentinoid class medicines. The costs, yielded from the usage of this medication, were also investigated. The data, which was obtained from this research, should be exploited as a guideline for the mdication planning and the prescribing system.
Materials and Methods: This descriptive research study was conducted with a group of patients from Srinagarind Hospital, whose records showed the use of gabapentiniod medications from the 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2020. The active ingredients, found in both the original and the generic types of gabapentinoid drug under this investigation, were Pregabalin and Gabapentin.
Results: There were 31,379 gabapentinoid-treated patients; 12,018 were men (38.30%) and 19,361 were women (61.70%), with a mean age of 57.68 years. Most of the patients (19,659 or 62.65%) had used the civil service for their medical payments. The Department with the highest number of gabapentinoid prescriptions had been the Orthopedic Department (70.86%). It was also observed that the application of the gabapentinoid medicines had increased annually. The drugs in the gabapentinoid class with the first three-highest rate of consumption as sorted by name and medical strength were as follows: 1) Gabapentin 300 mg, 2) Lyrica® 75mg, and 3) Gabapentin 100 mg. Based on this research study’s timeframe, the total cost of the gabapentinoid drug prescription was found to be 79,061,537.73 Baht. The first three medicines with the highest prescription cost were: 1) Lyrica®75 mg, 2) Lyrica® 150 mg, and 3) Gabapentin 300 mg. Based on the type of medical service payment, the highest description value was on the civil servant benefits (89.61%), followed by the self-paid value of 5.13 percent.
Conclusion: The usage and the description values of the drugs in the gabapentinoid class in Srinagarind Hospital were found to be increasing every year. Therefore, the importance of both the drug supply assessment and restrictions on the use of drugs in the hospital should be taken into account in order to direct reasonable drug usage, as well as to be able to reduce hospital expenses.

Keywords: Gabapentinoid; Trends; Usage