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Antidepressants into low back pain: duloxetine (Cymbalta®)

Given the fact that most antidepressants are not active in mild to moderate depression, it is a bit odd that the Food and Drug Administration has approved in 2010 the anti-depressant Cymbalta® for a different use, which is just as vague as mild and moderate depression: low back pain and osteoarthritis.

More than 600 patients with chronic back pain or osteoarthritis were studied during the clinical trial and the FDA stated that compared with the placebo group, they had a significant reduction in their pain. Apparently this was one of the pivotal trials.

We have to be able to review the data before understanding what will happen if we administer antidepresants to patients with low backpain.

November 2010, Jan M. Keppel Hesselink, MD, PhD