Treatment of fibromyalgia.
In this article, we investigate the range of treatments prescribed for fibromyalgia. The data suggest that the majority of those treated, 82 percent, receive only one pharmaceutical. An additional 12 percent of patients were prescribed two products and six percent received three products. Pregabalin (Lyrica(R)) monotherapy was the most commonly prescribed regimen (21% of patients) followed by duloxetine (Cymbalta(R)) monotherapy (20%). From a therapeutic class perspective, fibromyalgia patients received antidepressants (46%), antiepileptics (35%), pain therapies (25%), muscle relaxants (8%), and sleep agents (2%). An expert commentary is included.
Dussias
Peter
P
Mr. Dussias is Executive Director, Strategic Analytics Commercial Solutions, Quintiles, Parsippany, New Jersey.
Kalali
Amir H
AH
Staud
Roland M
RM