Fluoxetine versus amineptine in the treatment of outpatients with major depressive disorders.

Fluoxetine, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, was compared to amineptine, a tricyclic antidepressant agent, in the treatment of 63 outpatients with major depressive disorders of mild or moderate severity. Patients were randomly assigned to 6 weeks of treatment with either fluoxetine or amineptine. Fluoxetine was found to have a more marked therapeutic effect than that of amineptine: better efficacy, fewer side-effects, and quicker and better improvement on the self evaluation scales.