A multicenter Italian study of amineptine (Survector 100).

This study reports the antidepressant efficacy and the safety of amineptine (Survector 100) in a national multicenter open clinical trial (32 hospital centers). Three hundred twenty-four patients with depressive disorders, selected according to DSM-III Diagnostic Criteria and INSERM classification, were treated with amineptine (200 mg/day) for 40 days (mean). Amineptine proved to be significantly effective with a rapid onset of action (beginning on the 7th day) on depressive symptoms, as shown by the decrease in the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale total score. The assessment of the results in the different diagnostic subgroups confirmed the wide-spectrum antidepressant activity of amineptine. Particularly in reactive and neurotic depression (nonpsychotic depression according to INSERM) and dysthymic disorders according to DSM-III, amineptine induced an improvement in 90% of patients. Nevertheless, amineptine was also effective in psychotic depression (INSERM) and in major depressive episodes (DSM-III), in which improvement occurred in 76% of patients. The low frequency of side effects and the remarkable acceptability (clinical, biological, and cardiovascular) of amineptine were also confirmed.