F.D.A. Panel Approves Use of Antidepressant for Pain
Recently, A federal advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration “voted narrowly to recommend allowing Eli Lilly to market its blockbuster antidepressant, Cymbalta, for some chronic pain conditions affecting millions of Americans, particularly lower back pain.” (Duff Wilson, AP, 8/19). However, although the panel voted in favor of the drug’s effectiveness for lower back pain, it declined to endorse the drug’s use for osteoarthritis.
Advisory committee votes are often, but not always, followed by the FDA in approving a drug. FDA officials have indicated that if the drug is approved, the agency will “caution against the overuse of Cymbalta for pain.”
As a products liability attorney, I am hopeful that the FDA takes seriously any and all potential side effects to using an antidepressant as a drug for other ailments.
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