The safety of zimeldine in long-term use in depressive illness

The aim of this study was to evaluate the safety of zimeldine, a 5-HT reuptake inhibitor, in the long-term treatment of depressive disorders. The study was an open label, multicentre investigation involving 147 patients who were suffering from depressive illness and who needed long-term anti-depressant treatment. Sixty-five patients completed the intended treatment period of 1 year, 75 terminated prematurely, and 7 are still in the programme. The reasons for termination were mainly ineffectiveness of the drug and adverse reactions. During the long-term treatment the most common emergent symptoms were, in order of decreasing frequency, dizziness, dry mouth, sleep disorders, sweating, tremor, nausea and headache. The side-effects were, however, mild and they generally decreased during the treatment period. No new adverse symptoms were reported. In the long-term treatment group, body weight showed a slight mean decrease. Clinical chemistry and cardiovascular investigations were judged to show no changes of clinical importance. It is concluded that zimeldine was shown to be a safe drug in this 1-year treatment programme of depression.