The Place of Milnacipran in the Treatment of Depression

✍ Scribed by S. Kasper

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 109 KB
• Volume: 12
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0885-6222
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1077(199709)12:3+<s135::aid-hup944>3.0.co;2-z

✦ Synopsis

Modern community-based studies have revealed high prevalence rates for major depression in adults. Despite this high prevalence, many depressed individuals do not seek treatment and only a minority of those that do are prescribed antidepressants. This paper considers the role of antidepressants, especially of milnacipran in the treatment of major depression.

Milnacipran inhibits the reuptake of serotonin and noradrenaline (SNRI) in a selective manner without aecting various postsynaptic receptor sites; this results in a favourable tolerability pro®le of the drug. Minimising adverse events is important to enhance patient compliance and facilitate the administration of therapeutic doses of antidepressants. Data from placebo-controlled trials and the results of comparator studies involving TCAs and SSRIs have con®rmed that milnacipran is an eective and well tolerated antidepressant, particularly useful in patients with severe depression. A recent pharmacoeconomic study has con®rmed that milnacipran is a cost eective alternative to TCAs and SSRIs in the treatment of severe depression.