Abstract
Benzodiazepines have been found to be ineffective in the treatment of core symptoms of depression. However, triazolobenzodiazepines, which include alprazolam and adinazolam with the structure and metabolic pathways different from classical benzodiazepines, have demonstrated some anti-depressant effects. In a 6 week randomized double-blind study, adinazolam mesylate (Deracyn, Upjohn) was compared with placebo in 32 outpatients with diagnosis of major depression with or without melancholia. Subjects underwent 1 week of a single blind placebo treatment period, followed by 6 weeks of a double blind placebo controlled study period. Efficacy as measured by (HAM-D) and (SCL- 90) was evaluated at week 1, 2, 4 and 6. Both placebo and adinazolam groups improved over the period of time. Adinazolam was superior to placebo on clinician rated (HAM-D) and patients rated (SCL- 90) measures of efficacy, but the difference was not found to be statistically significant. Anxiety factor in depression showed no trend for superiority of adinazolam over placebo. This lack of anxiolytic activity was remarkable for a drug of benzodiazepine origin. In our study, anxious depressed patients showed less improvement than did other patient groups. One of the patients had acute manic episode during the active treatment. Drowsiness and headache were the most common side effects reported with active medication.
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Hameedi, F., Asnis, G., Sanderson, W. et al. Use of Benzodiazepines in Treatment of Depression. Neuropsychopharmacol 11, 272 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.npp.1380160
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.npp.1380160