By Simeon Bennett Jan. 6 (Bloomberg) — Antidepressants such as those made by GlaxoSmithKline Plc may be no better than dummy pills for people with mild or moderate depression, according to a study that suggests 70 percent of patients wouldn’t benefit from the drugs. In a review of six trials of antidepressants involving more than 700 patients published yesterday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers led by Jay Fournier at the University of Pennsylvania found the drugs helped only those patients with the most severe depression. Most trials excluded patients with milder forms of the disorder, the authors said. About 70 percent of patients have a form of depression below the level at which they would benefit from medication, Fournier and colleagues wrote, citing a 2002 study. Doctors, policy makers and sufferers should be made aware that there’s little evidence to show the treatments will benefit patients with less severe symptoms, the authors said. “This important feature of the evidence base is not reflected in the implicit messages present in the marketing of these medications to clinicians and the public,” they said. The researchers combined data from six trials, including three of paroxetine, the main ingredient in London-based Glaxo’s Paxil and Seroxat pills, and three of imipramine, an older generic medicine. The drugs had a “nonexistent to negligible” effect on patients with mild, moderate and severe symptoms, compared with those who took a placebo, according to a commonly used scale used to measure the disorder. The pills had a large effect on patients with very severe symptoms, the study found. ‘Important Option’ “The studies used for the analysis in the JAMA paper differ methodologically from studies used to support the approval of paroxetine for major depressive disorder, so it is difficult to make direct comparisons between the study results,” Glaxo spokeswoman Claire Brough said in an e-mail. “Antidepressants are an important option, in addition to counseling and lifestyle changes, for treatment of depression.” The findings of the study are “probably going to have some beneficial impact on doctors who may be less experienced” in treating depression, said Michael Baigent, an associate professor of psychiatry and clinical adviser to Beyond Blue , a Melbourne, Australia-based organization that seeks to raise awareness of the disorder. “It may also filter through to consumers, and help them in their understanding of depression,” Baigent said in a telephone interview today. Almost 16 percent of people in the U.S. had been diagnosed with depression at some time in their lives, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found in a 2006 survey of 35 states. Worldwide sales of antidepressants reached $20.3 billion in 2008, according to IMS Health Inc. Debate The study is the latest to challenge the health benefits of antidepressants since the drugs became available in the 1950s. Research has linked antidepressants with suicidal thoughts, birth defects and a life-threatening neurological disorder. Studies have also shown the medicines can impair male fertility, curb female libido and interfere with a breast cancer drug. In 2004, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration began requiring a black box, the most serious type of warning for prescription drugs, to be added to labeling of all antidepressants to warn about the increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior in children and adolescents being treated with the medications. The study was funded by the Bethesda, Maryland-based National Institute of Mental Health. To contact the reporter on this story: Simeon Bennett in Singapore at sbennett9@bloomberg.net
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Antidepressants Don’t Help Patients With Mild Disorders, Researchers Find
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