Although both drugs provide pain relief, mean pain score and global pain score data indicate no significant difference between gabapentin and amitriptyline. Gabapentin may be an alternative for treating diabetic peripheral neuropathy pain, yet does not appear to offer considerable advantage over amitriptyline and is more expensive. Larger trials are necessary to define gabapentin's place in treating diabetic peripheral neuropathy pain.

Purpose A collaborative pharmacist-physician (PharmD-MD) team approach to medication therapy management (MTM), with pharmacists initiating and changing medications at separate office visits, holds promise for cost-effective management of blood pressure (BP), but has not been evaluated in many systematic trials. The primary objective of this study was to examine BP control for hypertensive patients managed by a newly formed PharmD-MD MTM team vs. versus usual care (UC) in a university primary care clinic. Methods This was a randomized, pragmatic, clinical trial of hypertensive patients randomly selected for the PharmD-MD MTM team or UC. In the PharmD-MD MTM group pharmacists managed drug therapy initiation, monitoring, medication adjustments, biometric assessments, laboratory tests, and patient education. In the UC group, patients continued to see their primary care provider (PCP). Participants were age 18 years or over, diagnosed with hypertension, most recent BP ≥140/90 mmHg or ≥130/80 mmHg if co-diagnosed with diabetes mellitus, on at least one anti-hypertensive medication, and English speaking. Primary outcome was the difference in mean change in systolic BP (SBP) at 6 months. Secondary outcomes included percent achieving therapeutic BP goal, mean change in diastolic BP, LDL and HDL cholesterol. Findings A total of 75 patients were in the PharmD-PCP MTM group and 91 in the UC group. Mean reduction in SBP was significantly greater in the PharmD-PCP MTM group at 6 months [−7.1 (SD=19.4) vs. +1.6 (SD=21.0) mm Hg, (p=0.008)] but the difference was no longer statistically significant at 9 months [−5.2 (SD=16.9) vs. −1.7 (SD=17.7) mmHg, (p=0.22)] based on intent to treat analysis. In the intervention group, a greater percentage of patients who continued to see the MTM pharmacist vs. those who returned to their PCP were at goal at 6 months (88.5% vs. 63.6%) and 9 months (78.9% vs. 47.4%). No significant difference in change of LDL or HDL was detected at 6 or 9 months between groups, however mean initial visit values were near recommended levels. The PharmD-PCP MTM group had significantly fewer mean number of PCP visits than the UC group [1.8 (SD=1.5) vs 4.2 (SD=1.0), p<0.001) Implications A PharmD-PCP collaborative MTM service was more effective in lowering blood pressure than UC at 6 months for all patients and at 9 months for patients who continued to see the pharmacist. Incorporating pharmacists in the primary care team can be a successful strategy for managing medication therapy, improving patient outcomes and possibly extending primary care capacity.

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