Lyrica Approved by FDA for Fibromyalgia Treatment

Seen at the Wall Street Journal (subscriber link):

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved Pfizer Inc.’s Lyrica to treat fibromyalgia, a poorly understood pain disorder.

The approval marks the first time a drug has been approved for fibromyalgia, which is believed to affect three to six million Americans, mostly women. Fibromyalgia is marked by widespread muscle pain, tenderness and fatigue. The condition traditionally has been treated with a mix of painkillers and antidepressants.

Lyrica, already on the market to treat nerve pain associated with diabetes and shingles, is designed to interfere with damaged nerves that cause pain. The drug had $1.2 billion in world-wide sales last year, and has been used by about five million people.

Of course, my first reaction to this was “took them long enough”.

The press surrounding the approval generally omits that the European Union approved Lyrica for fibromyalgia a couple of years ago…and that several folks in the U.S. suffering from FMS have been taking it via creative scripting from their doctors since it became available in the states.

Better late than never, I guess. You’ve got to wonder how many folks have been subjected to needless suffering because of the plodding pace of the FDA.