Baclofen for binge eating: an open-label trial.
OBJECTIVE
Baclofen is a GABA-B agonist that may be useful in the treatment of substance use disorders, and also reduces 'binge-like' eating in rodents. We hypothesized that baclofen might be effective in reducing binge eating episodes in binge eating disorder (BED) and bulimia nervosa (BN).


METHODS
Seven women with BED (n = 4) or BN (n = 3) took baclofen (60 mg/day) for 10 weeks.


RESULTS
Six out of seven patients completed the full 10-week trial. Five out of seven participants (3 BED; 2 BN) demonstrated 50% or greater reduction of frequency of binge eating from beginning to end of the study. Three out of seven participants (2 BED; 1 BN) were free of binge eating at study end. Four out of seven participants elected to continue baclofen at study end. Baclofen was well tolerated by the participants.


CONCLUSIONS
In this open-label trial, baclofen was associated with decreased binge eating frequency in patients with BED and BN.
Broft
Allegra I
AI
Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA. aib8@columbia.edu
Spanos
Alexia
A
Corwin
Rebecca L
RL
Mayer
Laurel
L
Steinglass
Joanna
J
Devlin
Michael J
MJ
Attia
Evelyn
E
Walsh
B Timothy
BT
D000328:Adult; D001066:Appetite / Q000187:drug effects; D001418:Baclofen / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects; D001835:Body Weight / Q000187:drug effects; D052018:Bulimia Nervosa / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D005260:Female; D018755:GABA Agonists / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects; D006801:Humans
D018755:GABA Agonists; D001418:Baclofen