Efficacy of Pregabalin on Chronic Cough

A significant number of patients have an impaired quality of life due to chronic cough that fails to respond to therapeutic efforts. Research suggests that patients with chronic cough may have an oversensitive cough reflex. Reflexes are involuntary responses to nerve stimulation. Since standard cough medicines may not be helpful for treating the oversensitive cough reflex, treatment with neurologically acting agents has been investigated. Existing work in treatment of cough of unknown etiology has focused on the use of Gabapentin, a compound that acts neurologically that is used in the treatment of epilepsy and pain. A similar drug, Pregabalin, may be a superior medication for this indication. Pregabalin is rapidly absorbed with peak blood concentrations within 1 hour, has an approximate bioavailability of 90%, and is 3 to 10 times more potent than Gabapentin and has no known pharmacokinetic drug interactions.