Conditions: Chronic Low Back Pain With a Neuropathic Component
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 180
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
The purpose of this study is to determine if treatment with celecoxib and pregabalin together would prove to be more effective in relief of pain than treatment with celecoxib alone in people who have chronic low back pain with a probable neuropathic component.

Detailed description:
The primary objective is to evaluate the efficacy of the concomitant use of pregabalin and celecoxib compared with celecoxib monotherapy for the symptomatic relief of pain in patients with chronic low back pain with a probable neuropathic component.

The secondary objectives are:

* Demonstrate the additional benefit of adding pregabalin to celecoxib monotherapy.
* To evaluate the concomitant use of pregabalin and celecoxib compared to celecoxib monotherapy in a set of patient reported measures (sleep, depression, anxiety, impact of pain in daily functions, patient's global impression of change and patient's perception of the treatment).
* To evaluate the safety and tolerability of celecoxib and of the concomitant administration of pregabalin and celecoxib.

Arms:
arm 1: The group of patients who are randomized to receive concomitant treatment of pregabalin and celecoxib during the first study period. arm 2: The group of patients who are randomized to receive celecoxib monotherapy during the first study period.

Interventions: intervention 1: pregabalin and celecoxib intervention 2: Placebo and celecoxib
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: During the first study period subjects in Arm A will be administered a daily fixed dose of celecoxib 200 mg once daily and pregabalin 150 mg (75 mg BID) for one week (during Week 0) followed by pregabalin 300 mg (150 mg BID) daily for the remaining 4 weeks. During the second study period all subjects will be administered concomitant treatment of a daily fixed dose of celecoxib 200 mg once daily and pregabalin 300 mg (150 mg BID). Subjects in Arm B will be initiated on pregabalin 150 mg (75 mg BID) daily for one week, before pregabalin will up titrated to 300 mg (150 mg BID) daily.

All subjects will complete a treatment taper (a) after completing the second study period or (b) after premature study discontinuation. During treatment taper, the pregabalin dose will be decreased to 150 mg (75 mg BID) daily and subjects will participate in a follow up visit for a final safety assessment. intervention 2: Subjects in Arm B will be administered a daily fixed dose celecoxib 200 mg and placebo of pregabalin for 5 weeks. During the second study period all subjects will be administered concomitant treatment of a daily fixed dose of celecoxib 200 mg once daily and pregabalin 300 mg (150 mg BID). Subjects in Arm B will be initiated on pregabalin 150 mg (75 mg BID) daily for one week, before pregabalin will up titrated to 300 mg (150 mg BID) daily.

All subjects will complete a treatment taper (a) after completing the second study period or (b) after premature study discontinuation. During treatment taper, the pregabalin dose will be decreased to 150 mg (75 mg BID) daily and subjects will participate in a follow up visit for a final safety assessment.

Protocol document: