Open-Label Trial of Riluzole in Generalized Anxiety Disorder

OBJECTIVE: There is a need to identify novel pharmacotherapies for anxiety disorders. The authors examined the safety and efficacy of riluzole, an antiglutamatergic agent, in adult outpatients with generalized anxiety disorder. METHOD: In an 8-week, open-label, fixed-dose study, 18 medically healthy...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	The American journal of psychiatry Vol. 162; no. 12; pp. 2379 - 2381
Main Authors:	Mathew, Sanjay J., Amiel, Jonathan M., Coplan, Jeremy D., Fitterling, Heidi A., Sackeim, Harold A., Gorman, Jack M.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Washington, DC American Psychiatric Publishing 01-12-2005 American Psychiatric Association
Subjects:	Adult Ambulatory Care Amino acids Anxiety Anxiety Disorders - diagnosis Anxiety Disorders - drug therapy Biological and medical sciences Clinical trials Drug Administration Schedule Drug therapy Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists - therapeutic use Female Humans Male Medical sciences Mental disorders Neuropharmacology Patients Pharmacology. Drug treatments Pilot Projects Psychiatric Status Rating Scales Psychiatry Psycholeptics: tranquillizer, neuroleptic Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry Psychopharmacology Riluzole - therapeutic use Studies Treatment Outcome Human Psychotropic Toxicity Benzothiazole Treatment efficiency Anxiety disorder Neuroprotective agent Riluzole Symptomatology Chemotherapy Tranquillizer Treatment Generalized anxiety disorder Follow up study Evolution Severity score Comparative study
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Summary:	OBJECTIVE: There is a need to identify novel pharmacotherapies for anxiety disorders. The authors examined the safety and efficacy of riluzole, an antiglutamatergic agent, in adult outpatients with generalized anxiety disorder. METHOD: In an 8-week, open-label, fixed-dose study, 18 medically healthy patients with DSM-IV generalized anxiety disorder received treatment with riluzole (100 mg day) following a 2-week drug-free period. The primary efficacy measure was the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A) score at endpoint. RESULTS: Twelve of the 15 patients who completed the trial responded positively to riluzole. At 8 weeks, eight of the 15 patients had HAM-A score indicating remission of their anxiety. The median time to response was 2.5 weeks. CONCLUSIONS: Riluzole appears to be an effective, well-tolerated, and rapidly acting anxiolytic medication for some patients with generalized anxiety disorder. Larger, placebo-controlled studies are indicated.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-2 ObjectType-Feature-1
ISSN:	0002-953X 1535-7228
DOI:	10.1176/appi.ajp.162.12.2379