No Medications UK Licensed for Fibro

The MHRA, the UK medications licensing agency, has confirmed that there are currently no medications or medical devices currently licensed specifically for use for treating Fibromyalgia Syndrome (Fibro) in the UK.

Some confusion was caused when, after FibroAction's input led to NHS Direct updating their information on Fibro, NHS Direct included a page that gave the impression that a number of medications were already licensed for Fibro in the UK.

NHS Direct removed the medicine guides for corticosteroid medications Methylprednisolone/Lidocaine and Prednisolone from the list after FibroAction pointed out that, according to the EULAR Evidence-based Recommendations for the Management of Fibromyalgia Syndrome, corticosteroids are not recommended for Fibro. Medicine guides for Amitriptyline, Fluoxetine, Ibuprofen and Diazepam were left on the NHS Direct website.

FibroAction has now had a definite response from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the UK medicine licensing agency, saying that there are no medications or medical devices currently licensed specifically for use for treating Fibro in the UK. We hope that this clears up the confusion and FibroAction continues to work with NHS Direct to ensure that the information they provide is as accurate as possible.

A number of medications are in the pipeline to get approval to be licensed for use in treating Fibro in the UK. FibroAction hopes that we will soon see a number of medications licensed for use in treating Fibro in the UK as this will help to bring recognition to this often neglected condition. However, we would also like to remind patients and healthcare providers that there are a number of medications that can be use in treating Fibro and that patients should not be left to suffer unnecessarily.