FDA approves Cymbalta for treating chronic musculoskeletal pain

INDIANAPOLIS The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new usage for a drug used to treat depression and pain.

Eli Lilly said Thursday that the FDA had approved Cymbalta (duloxetine hydrochloride) for treating chronic musculoskeletal pain. This is the fifth indication for which the agency has approved Cymbalta, after major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, diabetic peripheral neuropathic pain and fibromyalgia, Lilly said.

“People with chronic musculoskeletal pain often struggle to find a medication that works for them,” Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions chronic pain treatment program director Michael Clark said in a statement on behalf of Lilly. “The approval of Cymbalta for chronic musculoskeletal pain by the FDA gives doctors another option to help an underserved and suffering group of patients.”