• The New York Times, Monday, January 14, 2008 12 PM

Pfizer has started a television advertising campaign for the drug Lyrica--the first approved to treat fibromyalgia-but some doctors say that the disease does not exist, and that Lyrica and similar drugs will be taken by millions of people who do not need them.

Fibromyalgia is characterized by chronic, widespread pain of unknown origin and primarily affects middle-aged women. Advocacy groups and doctors who treat it estimate that 2% to 4% of adult Americans suffer from the disorder. Because fibromyalgia patients typically do not respond to conventional painkillers like aspirin, drug makers are focusing on medicines like Lyrica that affect the brain and the perception of pain.

Doctors who specialize in treating fibromyalgia say that the disorder is undertreated and that its sufferers have been stigmatized as chronic complainers. But doctors who are skeptical of it say vague complaints of chronic pain do not add up to a disease. No biological tests exist to diagnose fibromyalgia, and the condition cannot be linked to any environmental or biological causes.

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