Efficacy and safety of agomelatine (10 or 25 mg/day) in non-depressed out-patients with generalized anxiety disorder: A 12-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

Agomelatine is efficacious in reducing symptoms and preventing relapse in placebo-controlled trials in generalised anxiety disorder (GAD). Nevertheless, fixed dose studies of agomelatine in GAD have not been undertaken. To determine the minimally effective optimal dose of agomelatine in GAD, the efficacy of two doses of agomelatine (10 and 25mg/day) was investigated in a 12-week, placebo-controlled, double-blind, international study in patients with a primary diagnosis of GAD. The primary outcome measure was the Hamilton Anxiety scale (HAM-A). The study was undertaken in 35 clinical centers in Finland, Russia, Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine from August 2013 to January 2015. 131 out-patients were included in the agomelatine 10mg group, 139 in the agomelatine 25mg group, and 142 in the placebo group. Both doses of agomelatine were associated with significant decreases in the HAM-A at week 12 (difference versus placebo of 7.16±1.00 at 10mg and 11.08±0.98 at 25mg, p<0.0001). Significant effects on all secondary measures were found for both doses at week 12; including psychic and somatic HAM-A subscales, response rate, remission on the HAM-A, and functional impairment. Findings were confirmed in subsets of more severely ill patients on all endpoints. The low placebo response rate observed in this study was consistent with an increase in the quality of data collected. Agomelatine was well-tolerated by patients, with minimal distinctions from placebo. There was a dose effect of agomelatine, with a greater placebo-agomelatine difference in the agomelatine 25mg group, compared to the agomelatine 10mg group.The present data support early work indicating the efficacy and tolerability of agomelatine in the treatment of GAD.

Agomelatine in generalized anxiety disorder: an active comparator and placebo-controlled study.

BACKGROUND: Agomelatine was efficacious in reducing symptoms in a short-term placebo-controlled trial in generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and in preventing relapse in a longer term placebo-controlled study. An additional short-term placebo-controlled study is required by regulatory agencies to confirm the efficacy of agomelatine in GAD. METHOD: This 12-week, placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomized, parallel group, international, multicenter study was designed to confirm the efficacy of agomelatine 25-50 mg/d in the treatment of patients with a primary DSM-IV-TR diagnosis of GAD. The primary outcome measure was the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HARS) total score. Assay sensitivity was evaluated by including an escitalopram (10-20 mg/d) group. SETTINGS: The study was undertaken in 45 clinical centers in Argentina, Czech Republic, Finland, South Korea, Poland, Russia, and Slovakia from April 2010 to July 2011. RESULTS: One hundred thirty-nine outpatients were included in the agomelatine group, 131 in the placebo group, and 142 in the escitalopram group. Agomelatine significantly reduced mean (SD) HARS total score (agomelatine-placebo difference: 4.71 [1.03], P <.0001) and had significant effects on secondary outcome measures, including psychic and somatic HARS subscales, response rate (estimate [standard error]) (agomelatine-placebo difference: 27.4% [5.9%], P< .0001), remission on the HARS (agomelatine-placebo difference: 16.8% [5.4%], P = .002), Clinical Global Impressions-Severity of Illness scale (CGI-S) (P < .001), functional impairment (P < .0001), and sleep quality (P < .001). Findings were confirmed in the subset of more severely ill patients (HARS total score ≥ 25 with or without CGI-S ≥ 5 at baseline). Agomelatine was well tolerated by patients, with no more adverse events than placebo. Escitalopram was similarly efficacious but was accompanied by a higher incidence of adverse events compared to placebo. CONCLUSIONS: In clinical practice, agomelatine has at least similar efficacy to that of escitalopram for the short-term treatment of GAD and is well tolerated. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Controlled-Trials.com identifier: ISRCTN03554974.

Activation of mGlu2/3 receptors as a new approach to treat schizophrenia: a randomized Phase 2 clinical trial.

Schizophrenia is a chronic, complex and heterogeneous mental disorder, with pathological features of disrupted neuronal excitability and plasticity within limbic structures of the brain. These pathological features manifest behaviorally as positive symptoms (including hallucinations, delusions and thought disorder), negative symptoms (such as social withdrawal, apathy and emotional blunting) and other psychopathological symptoms (such as psychomotor retardation, lack of insight, poor attention and impulse control). Altered glutamate neurotransmission has for decades been linked to schizophrenia, but all commonly prescribed antipsychotics act on dopamine receptors. LY404039 is a selective agonist for metabotropic glutamate 2/3 (mGlu2/3) receptors and has shown antipsychotic potential in animal studies. With data from rodents, we provide new evidence that mGlu2/3 receptor agonists work by a distinct mechanism different from that of olanzapine. To clinically test this mechanism, an oral prodrug of LY404039 (LY2140023) was evaluated in schizophrenic patients with olanzapine as an active control in a randomized, three-armed, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Treatment with LY2140023, like treatment with olanzapine, was safe and well-tolerated; treated patients showed statistically significant improvements in both positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia compared to placebo (P < 0.001 at week 4). Notably, patients treated with LY2140023 did not differ from placebo-treated patients with respect to prolactin elevation, extrapyramidal symptoms or weight gain. These data suggest that mGlu2/3 receptor agonists have antipsychotic properties and may provide a new alternative for the treatment of schizophrenia.