Cymbalta (Duloxetine HCl) showed statistically significant improvement in pain associated with osteoarthritis of the knee according to the primary efficacy measure of mean 24-hour average pain scores.
Approximately 59% of duloxetine-treated patients experienced a 30% improvement in pain compared with 45% of patients taking placebo. And 47% of duloxetine-treated patients experienced a 50% improvement in pain compared with 29% of placebo-treated patients.
Treatment with duloxetine also was associated with improved patient outcomes compared with placebo as measured by the Patient Global Impressions of Improvement (PGI-I) and physical functioning as measured by the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities (WOMAC) physical functioning subscale.
The study also showed that compared with patients receiving placebo, patients receiving duloxetine experienced significant improvement in symptom severity associated with osteoarthritis pain of the knee, including significantly greater reduction in brief pain inventory (BPI) average pain severity (p<0.001) and WOMAC scores for pain (p=0.003) and overall improved clinical global assessment according to clinical global impressions of severity (CGI-S) (p=0.001).