AN AUSTRALIAN MULTICENTRE STUDY OF MOCLOBEMIDE VERSUS AMITRIPTYLINE IN THE TREATMENT OF DEPRESSION

This paper reports the results of a multicentre study of the new monoamine oxidase inhibitor, moclobemide, in the treatment of major depression. Moclobemide is a specific monoamine oxidase-A inhibitor which does not bind irreversibly to the enzyme, unlike the currently available MAOls. Recent studies would suggest that in subjects taking moclobemide blood pressure elevation caused by tyramine is significantly less than that induced by the irreversible MAOls, particularly when tyramine is administered in an oral form. Forty-eight patients with major depression were randomly allocated to treat-ment with either moclobemide or amitriptyline for 4 weeks in a double-blind comparison. There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups on measures of efficacy. Patients taking amitriptyline reported a greater number of side-effects and more patients in the amitriptyline group dropped out because of these. There were no reports of interactions with tyramine-containing foods. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 1992; 26:454-45