Reglan is an antidopamine drug which treats nausea, vomiting and heartburn due to gastroesphogeal reflux – but causes serious side effects to many users. Although Reglan is manufactured by Avalon Pharmaceutical and Baxter Healthcare Corporation, generic forms have been available for years.
What Is Reglan?
Reglan is a brand name for the drug Metoclopramide. Drugs that contain metoclopramide include Reglan tablets, Reglan oral disintegrating tablets, metoclopramide oral solution and Reglan injection.
Metoclopramide increases muscle contractions in the upper digestive tract. This speeds up the rate at which the stomach empties into the intestines. Reglan/Metoclopramide is used treat heartburn caused by gastroesophageal reflux and to treat nausea and vomiting. It is also used to treat slow gastric emptying in people with diabetes (also called diabetic gastroparesis), which can cause nausea, vomiting, heartburn, loss of appetite and a feeling of fullness after meals.
Reglan is an antidopamine drug. Dopamine D2 receptors are receptors located in the central nervous system and the gut and controls movement. The most classic example of lack of dopamine is Parkinsons disease. Reglan also affects serotonin receptors and cholinergic receptors. It has ALWAYS been known to cause extrapyramidal effects–meaning physical symptoms, including tremor, slurred speech, akathisia, dystonia, anxiety, distress, paranoia, and bradyphrenia – that are primarily associated with improper dosing of or unusual reactions to anti-psychotic medications.
The anti dopamine drugs also include schizophrenia drugs – where, if you have too much dopamine, you need to block it. Dopamine has several types but in general it controls coordinated motion from a part of the brain called the substantia nigra. That is what is destroyed in Parkinsons disease. Dopamine is also a reward neurochemical transmitter and is associated with drug and substance abuse. In the gut, D2 receptors increase smooth muscle contraction.
Who Makes Reglan?
Brand-name Reglan is made by Avalon Pharmaceutical. Brand-name Reglan injection is made by Baxter Healthcare Corporation. Wyeth Pharmaceuticals manufactured Reglan from 1989 to approximately 2001. Schwarz Pharma, Inc. acquired the rights to Reglan in late December 2001 and manufactured and distributed it until 2008. However, the patents for Reglan have expired and it has been available in generic form since the mid 1980s.
Generic metoclopramide is made by many different companies, including:
Why Is Reglan Dangerous?
Reglan injury attorneys say that continued use of the drug may cause a symptom known as Tardive Dyskenisea in patients who take Reglan for more than three months – even though the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has warned that taking Reglan for 12 weeks should be the limit for most people.
Basically, the longer a patient is on the drug, the higher the risk that the patient will develop Tardive Dyskinesia. According to the FDA, analysis suggests that metoclopramide is the most common cause of drug-induced movement disorders. Another analysis of study data by the FDA showed that about 20 percent of patients who used metoclopramide took it for longer than three months. The FDA has also become aware of continued spontaneous reports of Tardive Dyskinesia in patients who used metoclopramide, and that most of those patients had also taken the drug for more than three months.
FDA Black Box Warning
In February, 2009, the FDA ordered a "black box" warning for drugs that contain metoclopramide A "black box" warning is the FDA's strongest warning and meant to call attention to serious or life-threatening risks.
The boxed warning highlights the risk of Tardive Dyskinesia, or involuntary and repetitive movements of the body, with long-term or high-dose use of metoclopramide – even after the drugs are no longer taken. The FDA estimates that more than 2 million Americans use these products – which include the anti nausea drug Reglan and its generic versions.
Those drugs' labels already noted the risk of Tardive Dyskinesia with chronic metoclopramide treatment. Now, that risk is highlighted in the boxed warning. The FDA also now requires that patients be provided a medication guide that discusses this risk.