Attenuation of Olanzapine-Induced Weight Gain With Reboxetine in Patients With Schizophrenia: A Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study

Abstract

The selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor reboxetine may reduce olanzapine-induced weight gain in schizophrenia patients, and activation of the adrenergic system may attenuate weight gain induced by atypical antipsychotic agents.

A Case of Profound Weight Loss Secondary to use of Reboxetine

“…However weight loss induced by reboxetine in this patient cannot be explained precisely. The change of body weight in this case is not similar to the general reports in degree and duration of the results [2][3][4]. As in most reports, the exact reasons for weight loss with reboxetine are unclear, but severe weight loss with short-term use of reboxetine suggests that unknown, peculiar, or more complex mechanisms could have affected this patient.…”

“…In controlled studies reboxetine was found to be superior to placebo in reducing antipsychotic-induced weight gain [2,3]. The studies testing the effects of reboxetine on body weight have demonstrated that reboxetine reduces body weight [4].…”

Reboxetine Enhances the Olanzapine-Induced Antipsychotic-Like Effect, Cortical Dopamine Outflow and NMDA Receptor-Mediated Transmission

“…Thus, the recently shown antidepressant effect of quetiapine (Bandelow et al, 2010;Bauer et al, 2009;Cutler et al, 2009), as well as its utility in bipolar depression may be related to concomitant NET inhibition in combination with a low D 2 occupancy (Kessler et al, 2006). Finally, clinical data indicate that adding a NET inhibitor such as reboxetine to olanzapine in the treatment of schizophrenia attenuates the olanzapine-induced weight gain (Poyurovsky et al, 2003(Poyurovsky et al, , 2007.…”

Retrospective Study of Olanzapine in Depressive and Anxious States in Primary Care

“…9,13,14 Patients in the treatment arm gained an average of 3.9 kg (8.7 lb), or 5.6% of body weight-an amount that, though not trivial, is below the 7% of body weight defined by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as being "clinically significant" weight gain during treatment with psychotropics. 15 Neither behavioral nor pharmacologic [16][17][18] interventions were systematically instituted, and it is unknown what effects such interventions might have had on weight gain. The amount of weight gained in our patients is similar to the amount reported for patients treated with olanzapine for short durations (approximately 10 weeks).…”