Moclobemide versus placebo in the treatment of depression: a multicentre study in Belgium

Moclobemide was compared with placebo for antidepressant activity, tolerance and safety in 2 parallel groups of 23 and 24 depressed patients. At the end of treatment (4 weeks or longer), 9 patients on moclobemide (41%) showed an improvement >50% on the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, compared with only 4 (17%) of those on placebo. The overall assessment of efficacy was significantly better for moclobemide (good or very good results in 50% of patients) than for placebo (80% poor results). Moclobemide was well or very well tolerated by 85% of patients and placebo by 100%. Moclobemide was thus shown to be clearly more effective than placebo and only slightly less well tolerated.