Bipolar Disorder Daily News Blog

Improvement with Olanzapine and Fluoxetine

A new study has come out comparing the effectiveness of olanzapine and fluoxetine HCL capsules (OFC) to lamotrigine for the treatment of bipolar depression. It appears that patients who took OFC experienced greater relief from the depressive and manic symptoms associated with bipolar disorder. Those taking OFC also responded faster to therapy than those who were taking lamotrigine.

"Lamotrigine is not indicated for the acute treatment of bipolar depression; rather, it is indicated for the maintenance of bipolar I disorder to delay the time to occurrence of mood episode (depression, mania, hypomania, mixed episodes) in patients treated for acute mood episodes with standard therapy. The effectiveness of lamotrigine in the acute treatment of mood episodes has not been established" (NewsRX.com, 2005).

The information was presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association. "OFC is, according to the company, the first and only acute treatment approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the depressive phase of bipolar disorder" (Managed Care Business Week, 2005).

When reading any story about medications it is always good to be skeptical, due to the fact that these studies could potentially have a bias towards promoting certain medications.
Always make sure to talk to your psychiatrist before altering or changing any medication that you are taking.

For more information on Bipolar Disorder Medications go to: http://www.moodswing.org/meds.html

The source of this article was Managed Care Business Week
via IncRx.com.