Posted by SLS on October 25, 2011, at 5:21:50
In reply to Re: Amitifadine, A Next-Generation Antidepressant for, posted by huxley on October 25, 2011, at 2:42:06
Hi.
> Can't believe a word they say.
I can think of only a few antidepressant drugs that turned out to be relative duds: trazodone, maprotiline, moclobemide, and reboxetine. Although these drugs won't get as many people well as Effexor, there are some people for whom they are lifesavers. A small percentage of people will respond well to them while not responding to any other drug. I feel that this is justification enough for them to remain available.
I look forward to seeing a triple reuptake inhibitor come to market. I once responded favorably to a drug called Merital (nomifensine). Like the new investigational drug described here, it blocked the reuptake of NE and DA. Certain people might be DAT inhibitor responders. Unfortunately, Merital proved to be liable to precipitate hemolytic anemia, and a few deaths were reported. Merital was withdrawn from the market worldwide after less than a year. There are people who have posted here for whom Merital was the only drug to bring them to remission.
For every new antidepressant drug that becomes available, a certain percentage of previously TRD cases will get well.
Personally, I think current investigational protocols suck. They let in too many people with mild and moderate depression that I doubt are cases of MDD. In my view, that's why these investigations produce high placebo response rates compared to active drug. When followed longitudinally, these placebo responders relapse early and in greater numbers than drug responders. You almost never here of this, though. Frederick Quitkin studied this phenomenon extensively.
- Scott
Some see things as they are and ask why.
I dream of things that never were and ask why not.- George Bernard Shaw
poster:SLS
thread:1000767
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20111016/msgs/1000772.html