Doctor sentenced to two years in prison, suspended, for improperly prescribing pregabalin

July 17, 2025

A Nantes doctor was sentenced Wednesday by the criminal court to a two-year suspended prison sentence, with a five-year ban on practicing, for improperly issuing prescriptions for pregabalin, an anti-epileptic drug diverted into a drug.

The 62-year-old doctor was on trial for, among other things, fraud, improperly prescribing a drug classified as a narcotic, and endangering others, suspected of having improperly dispensed 541 pregabalin prescriptions to 106 patients. He was also fined €50,000.

In court, the general practitioner claimed to have issued prescriptions "while waiting for the patient to be treated" by an addiction specialist: "Sudden withdrawal can lead to seizures," he stressed.

He also explained that he had been threatened by patients. "We know that in a state of withdrawal there are risks of impulsiveness. I was able to write the prescription to protect my physical integrity," he said, wearing a beige jacket and with his brown hair combed back.

The doctor regretted in court not having made "a necessary appeal for help" to the authorities.

Several patients who received repeated prescriptions between 2021 and 2023 were interviewed during the investigation, explaining that they had suffered from addiction and had found out about this practitioner through word of mouth.

According to the investigation, in some cases the doctor prescribed doses twice the maximum dosage.

His lawyer, Matthieu Creach, had asked the court not to order a ban on practicing, stressing that the 541 prescriptions represented "a drop in the ocean" of this doctor who is presently responding to a disadvantaged patient base when "the Doctolib slots are full and the emergency rooms are overwhelmed."

He told AFP that his client reserved the right to appeal.

The doctor had already been warned by the Loire-Atlantique Medical Council – a civil party in the trial – regarding his prescriptions of an opioid in 2011, then of a heroin substitution medication in 2017.

At the end of 2023, pharmacists in Nantes informed the authorities of their doubts about the legality of pregabalin prescriptions issued by the same doctor. He was identified by the Primary Health Insurance Fund (CPAM), also a civil party, as the largest prescriber in the Pays de la Loire region.

Marketed under the name Lyrica for 20 years in France and prescribed to treat epilepsy and neuropathic pain, pregabalin has been misused for several years for its anxiolytic and euphoric effects.

Faced with the increase in cases of abuse, dependence, misuse and falsified prescriptions, the French National Agency for the Safety of Medicines (ANSM) restricted the prescription conditions for pregabalin in May 2021, which is now subject to a secure prescription.

en_USEnglish