. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2015 Jul 13.

Published in final edited form as: Pain. 2014 May 24;155(9):1683–1695. doi: 10.1016/j.pain.2014.05.025

Table 1.

Active comparators to consider for proof-of-concept analgesic trials.

Chronic pain condition	Active comparator
Painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy	Duloxetine^, pregabalin^, or tricyclic antidepressants [4,23,24]
Postherpetic neuralgia	Gabapentin^* or pregabalin^* [4,23,24]
Osteoarthritis joint pain	Duloxetine, NSAIDs^*, or tramadol [47,88]
Chronic low back pain	Duloxetine^* or NSAIDs^* [14]
Fibromyalgia	Duloxetine^, milnacipran^, pregabalin^, or amitriptyline^ [12,117]

Approved for the indication by either the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or European Medicines Agency (EMA)