Lilly reveals back pain study results for duloxetine

Lilly has announced that patients with chronic low back pain experienced reduced levels of pain for 41 weeks with Cymbalta (duloxetine HCl).

According to new data from the company, 181 patients took part in the 41-week extension phase of the study, which was designed to analyse the long-term maintenance of pain reduction in those taking 60 g or 120mg of duloxetine once daily.

The study found that those patients who initially responded to duloxetine displayed a further reduction in pain that was measured by the Brief Pain Inventory average pain rating and found to be statistically significant.

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

The study also drew attention to common adverse events, which were similar to those noted in previous duloxetine studies and included headache, nausea, upper abdominal pain, excessive sweating, back pain, diarrhoea and fatigue.

Earlier this week, Lilly announced plans to launch a new development centre of excellence to speed up the medicine distribution process.