Pramipexole

Pramipexole is a dopamine agonist used for treatment of Parkinson’s disease and restless leg syndrome. A 8 week double blind RCT looked at the antidepressant efficacy of a flexible dose of the dopamine agonist pramipexole as an adjunct to standard antidepressant treatment in treatment refractory depression.⁷⁶ 40% and 33% of 60 patients randomized to augmentation with pramipexole achieved response and remission respectively, compared to 27% and 23% with placebo. Augmentation with pramipexole was well-tolerated, with no serious adverse effects identified. Another study recruited 17 patients with MDD who had failed to respond to previous treatment with a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor.⁷⁷ 5 patients were diagnosed as having Bipolar 2 Disorder and 12 as having MDD. Pramipexole was added to augment medication. In total, 71% patients were responders based on the definition of 50% or more reduction in the HDRS-21 score and 59% patients remitted. These results were almost unchanged when the sample was confined to patients with MDD.