Cymbalta from Eli Lilly & Co. has been successful in gaining the sponsorship of the U. S. panel to treat chronic knee and lower back pain. Today, an FDA advisory board voted 8-6 in support of extensive use of the anti-depressant.

However, there are apprehensions that the drug might not be suitable for all the patients and its wider use may be harmful to the liver.

Today, at a meeting in Bethesda, Maryland, Panel Chairman Jeffrey Kirsch, Chair of the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine in Portland, said that he believes that this drug will prove to be very helpful for a large number of patients.

Seamus Fernandez, an analyst at Leerink Swann & Co. in Boston, is of the view that Cymbalta's yearly sales can swell by over $500 million, or 16%. It is Lilly's second-largest drug and has got support for a massive number for people who suffer from musculoskeletal pain. So, this medicine has the potential to increase the earnings of the Company, which is planning to launch new drugs in the market.

Panelist Thomas Boyer, MD of the University of Arizona, said, "This will be an explosion of use in this drug seeing as most of the people sitting here my age have chronic arthritis and knee pain".