Pfizer touts blockbuster drug for fibromyalgia

Pfizer is touting a late stage study of its painkiller Lyrica for the treatment of fibromyalgia, a little-understood chronic pain condition that is thought to result from neurological changes in how patients perceive pain. Patients taking the drug reported a 50 percent decrease in pain compared to those taking placebo, as well as improvements in overall health status and outcomes. The study results were submitted to the FDA as part of a supplemental NDA for Lyrica for the treatment of fibromyalgia. Currently, there are no approved treatments for the disease. Lyrica recently entered the ranks of blockbuster therapies, earning $1.2 billion in 2006. An additional indication for fibromyalgia could significantly increase the drug's profits.

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