U.S. Fibromyalgia Patients Currently Taking an Approved Therapy are More Likely to Request a Discontinuation of Their Treatment in the Next Year Compared with Patients Taking a Non-Approved Therapy.

EXTON, Penn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Data from a recent report from BioTrends Research Group suggest that U.S. fibromyalgia patients who are currently taking one of the three agents approved for the treatment of fibromyalgia – Eli Lilly’s Cymbalta, Pfizer’s Lyrica, and Forest Laboratories/Cypress Biosciences’ Savella – may have higher expectations for their treatment than patients taking off-label therapies. Approximately 40% of surveyed patients taking an approved therapy indicate they are “very unlikely” to ask their doctor to switch their therapy in the next year, compared with more than half of surveyed patients taking an off-label treatment.

“These data suggest that patients currently taking an approved therapy are not well-established on their current treatments, creating a higher risk of drug switching in these patients”

“These data suggest that patients currently taking an approved therapy are not well-established on their current treatments, creating a higher risk of drug switching in these patients” said CNS analyst Andrea Buurma. “This indicates there is a significant opportunity for emerging novel agents.”

Surveyed patients express they are most likely to request a switch to an agent that offers improvement over their current therapy in treating pain, fatigue, and/or sleep problems. “More than two-thirds of patients indicated they would be somewhat or very likely to switch to an emerging agent that offers improvement in these areas” Ms. Buurma said.

PatientTrends™: Fibromyalgia is a yearly report that investigates patients’ attitudes, perceptions and behavior regarding their disease, with a focus on the patient’s path to diagnosis and their perception of their interaction with their physician. The report looks at what drives patients’ satisfaction with their current fibromyalgia treatment and identifies which drug attributes are most likely to prompt a patient to request a switch to an emerging treatment. This report is based on a survey fielded in January and February of 2011 with 500 U.S. patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia.

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