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Studies with negative findings are rarely published. Recently, two manufacturer-supported studies in a well-regarded journal failed to confirm the efficacy of medications that had seemed effective in open trials.
Clinicians have anecdotally reported that the atypical antipsychotic aripiprazole appeared helpful in bipolar depression. Therefore, researchers examined its efficacy in two identically designed, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trials. Each trial involved 375 patients with bipolar depression (mean episodes in previous year, 2.4; mean age, 40). Doses averaged 17.6 mg in one study and 15.5 mg in the other (range, 5–30 mg). Aripiprazole did not significantly differ from placebo in symptom levels at 8 weeks, although it sho…