EFFICACY AND TOLERABILITY OF REBOXETINE COMPARED WITH IMIPRAMINE IN ADOUBLE-BLIND-STUDY IN PATIENTS SUFFERING FROM MAJOR DEPRESSIVE EPISODES

A 6-week, randomised, double-blind, multicentre study in 256 patients with a DSM-III-R diagnosis of major depression was carried out to comp are the selective noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor (NARI), reboxetine, with the reference standard tricyclic antidepressant, imipramine. The efficacy of reboxetine, as measured by the extent of improvement of H amilton Depression Rating Scale, Montgomery and Asberg Depression Rati ng Scale and the Clinical Global Impression Scale, was similar to that of imipramine. The improvement was observed in the overall population and in severely depressed and melancholic patients. Reboxetine tolera bility compared favourably with that of imipramine. Frequency of disco ntinuation due to adverse events was lower in the reboxetine-treated g roup (10.0%) than in the imipramine-treated group (14.3%), and the cum ulative risk of development (Kaplan-Meier analysis) of dry mouth, hypo tension and/or related symptoms and tremor was significantly higher on imipramine than on reboxetine. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.