March 2 (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration rejected Pacira Pharmaceuticals Inc's application for expanding the use of its pain drug, exparel.

Exparel is currently used to manage post-surgical pain at the site of an operation and Pacira sought to expand its use as a nerve numbing injection, for cases where it is difficult to inject a painkiller directly into the affected area.

(Reporting by Amrutha Penumudi in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)