Measurement of Pain and Medication Effect in a Study of Duloxetine

Letter to the Editor

Sir: We would like to comment on the November 2007 articleby Brecht et al. that addressed the efficacy and safety ofduloxetine in treating pain in patients experiencing major depressivedisorder. We concur with the authors that co-occurringpain and depression is a clinical issue of utmost importance, onethat has only recently begun to gain a level of attention commensuratewith its clinical impact. However, we believe that anumber of issues potentially limit this investigation’s applicabilityto the clinical setting.