The problems in the nerves resulting due to diabetes is known as diabetic neuropathic pain. The efficacy of the two drugs, that is, pregabalin and duloxetine have been efficiently explored in this study, rendering one of them superior over the other.

The study was designed for comparing the efficacy and cost effectiveness of Pregabalin and Duloxetine used in Diabetic Neuropathic Pain.

The prospective interventional 6-month study was conducted in a diabetic clinic of a 500 bedded tertiary care hospital in South India. The subjects having diagnosed with diabetic neuropathy and not treated with Pregabalin and Duloxetine or any other drugs of its class were selected. The data were collected using NPS and Neuro QoL questionnaires. The cost of both drugs used in the study was calculated as the mean of the price of 3 leading common brands of those drugs. The comparative efficacy was calculated by comparing the mean difference produced by both drugs in NPS and QoL scores. The cost effectiveness was calculated by ICER ratio.

The results have shown a significant improvement in the mean difference of NPS and Neuro QoL scores of both Pregabalin (p = <0.001) and Duloxetine (p = <0.001) before and after the therapy, the Duloxetine dominates over Pregabalin in both. The mean cost of Pregabalin for 3 months’ therapy was found to be INR 668.7 and that for Duloxetine was INR 756. Duloxetine showed a better effect but more expensive. ICER ratio was calculated and found that a cost of INR 61.47 per extra QoL gained by Duloxetine.

The study has revealed that, both drugs are found to be effective. On conducting cost effective analysis, a significant better improvement in QoL of patients was obtained by Duloxetine with comparatively mild increase in the price.