title: A randomized, placebo-controlled study of memantine as adjunctive treatment in patients with schizophrenia.
abstract: Memantine, an uncompetitive antagonist of glutamate receptors of the N-methyl-D-aspartate type is approved for the treatment of moderate to severe Alzheimer's disease. A growing body of evidence supports a link between the glutamatergic neurotransmission and schizophrenia. The purpose of this study (MEM-MD-29) was to examine the efficacy and safety of memantine as an adjunctive treatment to atypical antipsychotics in patients with persistent residual psychopathology of schizophrenia. In this double-blind, placebo-controlled study, participants were assigned to receive 20 mg/day memantine (n=70) or placebo (n=68), in addition to continuing treatment with atypical antipsychotics, for 8 weeks. The primary efficacy measure was the total score on the Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS). Secondary measures were positive and negative PANSS scores, PANSS responders, Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia (CDSS), Clinical Global Impression of Severity (CGI-S), Clinical Global Impression of Improvement (CGI-I), and Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia (BACS). Missing data were imputed using the last observation carried forward (LOCF) approach. Safety was assessed by means of physical examination, clinical laboratory evaluation, recording of adverse events (AEs), and measures of extrapyramidal symptoms. At end point, total PANSS scores did not differ between the memantine and the placebo group (p=0.570, LOCF). A similar outcome was observed for all secondary measures. The frequency of serious AEs in the memantine vs placebo group was 8.7 vs 6.0%; treatment discontinuations because of AEs occurred in 11.6 and 3.0% of patients in these groups, respectively. Memantine showed no efficacy as an adjunctive therapy in schizophrenia patients with residual psychopathology and was associated with a higher incidence of AEs than placebo.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY 10032, USA. jlieberman@columbia.edu
authors.forename: Jeffrey A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Lieberman
authors.forename: Kelly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Papadakis
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Csernansky
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Litman
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Volavka
authors.forename: Xinwei Daniel
authors.initials: XD
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.forename: Allyson
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gage
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008559:Memantine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000188:drug therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents; D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists; D008559:Memantine