Current and Emerging Therapies Have No Advantage Over Pfizer's Lyrica in Their Effect on Patients' Quality of Life in the Treatment of Diabetic ...( However Owing to Safety and Delivery...),Health

However, Owing to Safety and Delivery End Points, Drugs from Eli Lilly and Boehringer Ingelheim Will Remain as the Gold Standard Treatments, According

to a New Report from Decision Resources

WALTHAM, Mass., March 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms focusing on pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that a drug's effect on a patient's quality of life is the attribute that most influences neurologists' prescribing decisions in the treatment of diabetic neuropathy. Clinical data and expert opinion show that current and emerging therapies have no advantage in this attribute over Pfizer's Lyrica.

The new report entitled Diabetic Neuropathy: Moderate Pain Relief No Longer Enough-Physicians Expect More-Effective Therapies finds that if an agent offering pain relief superior to that of sales-leading Lyrica were to be launched, it would earn a 33% patient share, according to surveyed neurologists. The report also finds that, although Lyrica is the sales leader in the diabetic neuropathy drug market, the current and future gold standard treatment for the indication is Eli Lilly's Cymbalta/Boehringer Ingelheim's Xeristar.

Although the efficacy of Cymbalta/Xeristar is equal to that of Lyrica, Cymbalta/Xeristar outscores Lyrica in safety and delivery end points. In particular, Cymbalta/Xeristar does not cause weight gain and is associated with less symptoms of dizziness than Lyrica.

"Based on available data and expert opinion, we do not expect any therapy under development to displace Cymbalta/Xeristar as the clinical gold standard for diabetic neuropathy," said Marcus Bain, Ph.D., analyst at Decision Resources. "Although some therapies in development hold promise, most of them earned inferior scores in efficacy, safety and tolerability, and/or delivery features when compared with Cymbalta/Xeristar."

About the Report

Diabetic Neuropathy: Moderate Pain
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