Drug's Efficacy for Treating Depression 'Exciting'

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VIENNA -- Mecamylamine, an old, rarely prescribed, truly obscure antihypertensive agent, may be favorably reincarnated as an antidepressant with a completely novel mechanism of action--and vastly greater potential use.

The drug displayed favorable safety and efficacy as augmentation therapy in a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) who were nonresponders to citalopram (Celexa) monotherapy, Dr. Geoffrey C. Dunbar reported at the annual congress of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology.

"This study provides the first substantive clinical evidence that compounds where the primary pharmacology is antagonism to …