Posted by River1924 on March 1, 2006, at 3:34:02
I read the article below and was wondering if anyone had any experience with tiagabine? Thanks, River.
Antiepileptic Tiagabine Promising for Anxiety and Depression
Reuters Health Information 2006. © 2006 Reuters Ltd.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Feb 17 - Tiagabine, a selective inhibitor of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), appears to be safe and effective for the treatment of patients with major depression with significant anxiety.
Dr. Linda L. Carpenter and colleagues from Brown Medical School in Providence, Rhode Island report these findings in the January issue of the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.
In an 8-week, open-label study, 15 patients with "anxious depression" received tiagabine monotherapy, starting at 4 mg/day titrated for optimum response to a maximum of 20 mg/day.
Six patients discontinued treatment before completing the full 8 weeks. In three patients this was due to poor tolerability, in two due to lack of effect and one patient was withdrawn due to a protocol violation.
In the remaining nine patients, tiagabine significantly improved both depression and anxiety, as shown by a reduction from baseline in mean Hamilton Rating Scale scores. Overall, 33% of patients met criteria for remission of depression and 27% met criteria for remission of anxiety,
The mean final daily dose of the agent was 12.5 milligrams and the most common side effects included dizziness, headache, and gastrointestinal upset.
The results from this small open-label study are encouraging, the team concludes, "but data from larger placebo-controlled trials are needed to fully delineate the role of tiagabine in the treatment of patients with anxious depression."
The study was funded by Cephalon, manufacturers of tiagabine.
J Clin Psychiatry 2006;67:66-71.
poster:River1924
thread:614559
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060227/msgs/614559.html