Clinical trial finds Cymbalta reduces back pain

INDIANAPOLIS Patients with chronic lower back pain who took a drug used to treat mood disorders maintained reductions in pain for 41 weeks, according to results of a study.

Eli Lilly & Co. said Friday that patients taking Cymbalta (dulexotine hydrochloride) experienced maintenance of pain reduction accompanied by further reduction in pain. Data from the study will be presented Friday at the sixth triennial congress of the European Federation of Chapters of the International Association for the Study of Pain.

The study included 181 patients enrolled in the study, taking 60 mg or 120 mg doses of Cymbalta once a day. During the 13-week, placebo-controlled acute phase of the study, 58 patients experienced at least a 30% reduction in pain.

Cymbalta currently has approval as a treatment for major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, diabetic peripheral neuropathic pain and fibromyalgia.

“Chronic low back pain is a painful and debilitating condition, and this study is an important step in the fight against it,” lead study author and Lilly Research Laboratories medical fellow Vladimir Skljarevski said in a statement.