Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Milnacipran Shows Success in Treating FM?

Milnacipran is the name of a new drug being tested for Fibromyalgia. It is actually an anti-depressant, of the SSNRI (Selective Seretonin Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitor) type that has been available in Austria for a decade.

According to the study at the link below, it has shown success in treating symptoms of FM, as well as Lupus.

After reading the study however, it occurs to me that this is just another Cymbalta. This may sound a little jaded, but it seems to me, that the drug companies are just looking for medications to throw at FM,so that they can make money off the millions of people who suffer from it. This isn't a cure...it may help some,especially those suffering with depression as well as FM, but not all, just as Cymbalta did. (Note that Cymbalta was recently NOT approved for treating FM in Europe.) All it does is tinker with a couple of neurotransmitters, and although these have been found to be off in FM, they are not the cause, just two more of the myriad of symptoms.
Sure, it might help people with FM, improving quality of life by improving mood and outlook, and having a slight effect on pain, but we have plenty of drugs like that already; we don't call THOSE "FM Drugs"... It just makes me wonder if this title should be given to any drug that doesn't help everyone, or nearly everyone who suffers from this disease. (Insulin wouldn't be considered a diabetes drug if it only helped some people who had diabetes, right?) To be precise, it does say "for the Management of Fibromyalgia" but no doubt it will be touted as a drug for treating FM. I can see the commercials now...
If it helps some people, that's great, but I kind of wish they would focus more on finding the cause, or at the very least a surefire diagnostic test.

Just my two cents.

Here's a link to the study: Positive-Results-of-Phase-III-Study-of-Milnacipran-for-the-Management-of-Fibromyalgia-3573-1/

*Correction: I actually got the Lupus link from this site, under Experimental Uses:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milnacipran

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