TABLE 3. Placebo-controlled studies of fluoxetine

Study N Result
Placebo
Wernicke et al. (Wernicke JF, Dunlop SR, Dornseif BE, Zerbe RL. Fixed-dose fluoxetine therapy for depression. Psychopharmacol Bull 1987;23: 164–168. ) 336 FLX 20 mg > PLC
FLX 40 mg > PLC
FLX 60 mg = PLC
Wernicke et al. (Wernicke JF, Dunlop SR, Dornseif BE, Bosomworth JC, Humbert M. Low dose fluoxetine therapy for depression. Psychopharmacol Bull 1988;24:183–188. ) 354 FLX 5 mg > PLC
    FLX 20 mg > PLC
    FLX 40 mg > PLC
Fabre and Crimson (Fabre LF, Crismon L. Efficacy of fluoxetine in outpatients with major depression. Curr Ther Res 1985;37:115–123. ) 37 FLX > PLC
Rickels et al. (Rickels K, Amsterdam JD, Avallone MF. Fluoxetine in major depression—a controlled study. Curr Ther Res 1986;39:559–563. ) 38 FLX = PLC

Fluoxetine + impramine    
Stark and Hardison (Stark P, Hardison CD. A review of multicenter controlled studies of fluoxetine vs imipramine and placebo in outpatients with major depressive disorder. J Clin Psychiatry 1985;46:53–58. ) 589 FLX = IMI > PLC
Heiligenstein et al. (Heiligenstein JH, Tollefson GD, Faries DE. A double-blind trial of fluoxetine, 20 mg, and placebo in out-patients with DM-III-R major depression and melancholia. Int Clin Psychopharmacol 1993;8: 247–251. ) 52 FLX > PLC

Placebo + mianserin    
Muijen et al. (Muijen M, Roy D, Silverstone T, Mehmet A, Christie M. A comparative clinical trial of fluoxetine, mianserin and placebo with depressed outpatients. Acta Psychiatr Scand 1988;78:384–390. ) 70 FLX > PCL + MIA

FLX, fluoxetine; PCL, placebo; IMI, imipramine; MIA, mianserin.

Back to Chapter

published 2000