The trial evaluated the effects of mecamylamine taken with citalopram hydrobromide, a treatment combination known as TRIDMAC, in patients who did not respond adequately to citalopram alone. Citalopram hydrobromide is a commonly prescribed treatment for depression marketed as Celexa by Forest Laboratories in the US. TRIDMAC is also an NNR therapeutic, one of a new class of drugs developed by Targacept for the treatment of central nervous system diseases and disorders.
On one of two primary endpoints in the trial, patients receiving TRIDMAC showed greater improvement on symptoms of depression, than patients receiving placebo with continued citalopram therapy.
However, the result on the trial’s other primary endpoint, achievement of remission, favored the TRIDMAC group over the placebo group, although this result did not reach statistical significance.
“Our near-term objectives include defining plans for further development in our depression program following dialogue with the Food and Drug Administration,” commented J. Donald deBethizy, president and CEO of Targacept.
TRIDMAC was generally well tolerated in the trial. There was one serious adverse event reported in each of the TRIDMAC and placebo groups. In the TRIDMAC group, a patient experienced an upper respiratory tract infection and irregular heartbeat and discontinued participation in the trial.