Comparison of a new antidepressive, lofepramine, with imipramine in a double-blind multicentre trial

Abstract

Lofepramine, an imipramine derivative, shows lower acute toxicity in animals when compared with desipramine and imipramine. Its anticholinergic effect is less pronounced than that of desipramine. In an open clinical trial lofepramine showed a marked antidepressive action. A double-blind multicenter trial of lofepramine v. imipramine, evaluated by means of the AMP system, showed a remarkable degree of concurrence with regards to the effects of those two products.

A multicentre trial of lofepramine

“…Details of the pharmacokinetic profile were later reported by Plym Forshell in 1976 2 . It is a tricyclic compound recently introduced for general clinical use, and there are now many reports on efficacy, safety, and liability to fewer side effects than other tricyclics in many open and double‐blind studies in the treatment of depressive states dating back almost 10 years 3–11 . There have been two international symposia on antidepressant drug therapy with particular reference to lofepramine 12 , 13 .…”