Double-blind trial of amineptine and clomipramine in the treatment of depression

Abstract

A double-blind trial was carried out in 62 depressed patients to compare the clinical efficacy and acceptability of amineptine and clomipramine. Patients were allocated at random to one or other of two treatment groups and received daily doses of amineptine ranging from 100 to 300 mg (mean 180 mg) or of clomipramine ranging from 50 to 150 mg (mean 84 mg) over a period of 6 weeks. Global assessment of response to treatment and Hamilton Rating Scale scores, assessed before and after 1,3 and 6 weeks of treatment, indicated that the two drugs appeared to be equally effective and no differences between them could be demonstrated in the analysis of the individual items or grouped items of the scale used. Measurements of ocular tone showed that there was significantly less risk of amineptine producing an increase in tone, and blood pressure and electrocardiographic investigations also underlined the greater cardiovascular tolerance of amineptine. Five (16%) of the 32 patients in the clomipramine group were withdrawn from the study because of adverse effects.

Monoaminergic‐based Pharmacotherapy for Depression

“…The use of amineptine as an antidepressant is supported by a number of open trials (Boral and Shah, 1989;Paes de Sousa and Tropa, 1989;Scarzella et al, 1985), as well as placebo-controlled trials (Alevizos et al, 1989;Boyer et al, 1999). Amineptine also appears to be as effective as the TCAs (Bornstein, 1979;Lemoine et al, 1981;Mendis et al, 1989;Rampello et al, 1995;Van Amerongen, 1979;Vauterin and Bazot, 1979), the MAOIs (Macher et al, 1992), and the SSRIs (Dalery et al, 1997) in the treatment of depression, and more effective than placebo in preventing depressive relapses (Ferreri et al, 1997).…”