Seroquel shows strong bipolar results at APA

Anglo-Swedish drug major AstraZeneca presented results demonstrating the efficacy and tolerability of Seroquel (quetiapine) for treating  depressive episodes in bipolar disorder, including the  difficult-to-treat bipolar II patient population, at the American  Psychiatric Association congress in San Francisco.

Results from a combined analysis of all patients with bipolar I or II  disorder (n=2593) demonstrated that Seroquel monotherapy was  significantly more effective than placebo for treating depressive  episodes associated with bipolar disorder (p<0.001 for both doses of  Seroquel).

Similar results were observed in a combined analysis of patients with  bipolar II disorder (n=819). In both analyses, improvements were evident  as early as week one and continued through week eight. The four studies,  BOLDER I and II and EMBOLDEN I and II, had a similarly designed  eight-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase to  evaluate the efficacy and safety of Seroquel monotherapy (fixed dose  300mg or 600mg daily) compared with placebo in adult patients with  bipolar I or II disorder. The EMBOLDEN studies also included an active  comparator arm, lithium in EMBOLDEN I and paroxetine in EMBOLDEN II.