From
USA Today:
A small new study provides more evidence that, on average,
antidepressants may be little more effective than a sugar pill in most patients who take them.
Antidepressants are among the most-prescribed drugs in the USA. More than 164 million prescriptions were dispensed in 2008, according to IMS Health.
Robert DeRubeis, a psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania, and his team pooled data from six trials in which a total of 718 depressed patients were randomly assigned to take either an antidepressant or a placebo. The authors obtained patient-specific data from scientists involved with each trial.
Antidepressants were more effective than a placebo only for patients with very severe depression, who made up 40% of trial participants but, according to a recent survey cited in DeRubeis' paper, represent fewer than 30% of depressed people who seek treatment in the real world.
In a statement, Food and Drug Administration spokeswoman Karen Riley called DeRubeis' paper "useful."
A larger study published in February 2008 reached conclusions similar to those in DeRubeis' paper. In the 2008 study, researchers pooled data from all clinical trials submitted to the FDA for the licensing of Prozac, Serzone (no longer on the market), Effexor and Paxil.