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Pfizer Inc.'s drug Lyrica has gotten FDA approval for use in treating nerve pain due to spinal injuries. Lyrica, a pain drug, is Pfizer's second-biggest selling drug. It is expected that this new approval will help Lyrica pass Lipitor, the company's largest-selling drug for reducing cholesterol.

WASHINGTON – American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. and its subsidiary Pharmacia & Upjohn Company Inc. (hereinafter together "Pfizer") have agreed to pay $2.3 billion, the largest health care fraud settlement in the history of the Department of Justice, to resolve criminal and civil liability arising from the illegal promotion of certain pharmaceutical products, the Justice Department announced today. Pharmacia & Upjohn Company has agreed to plead guilty to a felony violation of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act for misbranding Bextra with the intent to defraud or mislead. Bextra is an anti-inflammatory drug that Pfizer pulled from the market in...

Developed by Pfizer, pregabalin, marketed under the brand name Lyrica, is a 3-substituted analogue of gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA) and a compound related to Pfizer's hugely successful antiepileptic drug gabapentin (Neurontin). In July 2004, Pfizer secured Europe-wide approval for Lyrica (pregabalin) for use in the management of peripheral neuropathic pain as well as an adjunctive therapy in the treatment of partial epileptic seizures. Subsequently in December 2004 the company gained FDA approval for use of Lyrica (pregabalin) in neuropathic pain associated with diabetic peripheral neuropathy and postherpetic neuralgia; making it the first FDA-approved treatment for both of these neuropathic pain...