The FDA called Lyrica an important development in the fight against the disease and a reason for hope in patients. At the same time, the agency said it is not known why Lyrica works. It also said that not everyone who took the drug was helped. Lyrica causes side-effects in some patients, including problems with mental concentration and attention.
The FDA has also approved the drugs Cymbalta and Savella to treat fibromyalgia in individuals over age eighteen.
FAITH LAPIDUS: Gail Cawkwell is a rheumatologist who treats children and young people with arthritis and fibromyalgia. She is also a Vice President at Pfizer.
Doctor Cawkwell told VOA that fibromyalgia is a very mysterious disease that has proved difficult to diagnose and treat. She says Pfizer believes Lyrica helps doctors ease their patients’ pain and other symptoms.
DOCTOR GAIL CAWKWELL: “Lyrica’s primary effect we believe is on pain, we believe is on calming down excited nerves, and its impact on fibromyalgia overall is there beyond just the pain of fibromyalgia.”
FAITH LAPIDUS: Doctor Cawkwell says she has treated thousands of fibromyalgia patients in the past fifteen years. She says that, with good medicines, doctors can make a real difference in the lives of people with fibromyalgia. She says patients make an effort to find out what is happening in the body and how to get better.
But she notes that people can be healthy one day and the next day wake up feeling tired and everything hurts. And, she adds, the disease can last many years, even a lifetime.
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2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
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2013-11-25
2013-11-25