Combo of Memantine and Sertraline Effective for Unipolar Depression
A 2016 study in the Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics finds that the combination of memantine (Namenda), a drug used to treat Alzheimer’s disease, and the antidepressant sertraline (Zoloft) improved unipolar depression more than sertraline plus placebo.
The study by Meysam Amidfar and colleagues included 66 patients with moderate to severe unipolar depression. They were divided into two groups—one received sertraline plus memantine for six weeks, while the other received sertraline and a placebo.
The memantine group showed significantly greater improvement at 2 weeks, 4 weeks, and 6 weeks, and significantly greater response at 4 and 6 weeks. There were also more early improvers in the mematine group, and more rapid response to treatment. Both groups improved significantly over the six weeks of treatment.
Larger studies are needed to learn more about the safety and efficacy of memantine combined with sertraline for the treatment of unipolar depression, but this initial study is promising. In 2012, researcher Amit Anand and colleagues reported that in bipolar depression, memantine potentiates the effects of lamotrigine. Memantine also helped rapid cyclers when added to ongoing treatment in an open study of the drug treatment by Athanasios Koukopoulus and colleagues in 2012.
