Effects of milnacipran on binge eating – a pilot study

Shun’ichi Noma¹, Teruhisa Uwatoko¹, Haruka Yamamoto², Takuji Hayashi¹

¹Department of Psychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan; ²Department of Psychiatry, Toyooka Hospital, Hyogo, Japan

Abstract: Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors are effective in the treatment of bulimia nervosa. There have been relatively few studies of the efficacy of specific serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors in the treatment of eating disorders. Twenty-five outpatients with binge eating episodes, diagnosed as anorexia nervosa, binge-eating/purging type, bulimia nervosa/purging type, or bulimia nervosa/non-purging type, were treated with milnacipran and 20 patients completed the 8-week study. Symptom severity was evaluated using the Bulimic Investigatory Test, Edinburgh (BITE) self-rating scale before administration of milnacipran and after 1, 4, and 8 weeks treatment. The scores improved after 8 weeks, especially drive to, and regret for, binge eating. Milnacipran was more effective in patients without purging and in younger patients, while there was no difference in the efficacy of milnacipran among subtypes of eating disorders.

Keywords: milnacipran, specific serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, binge eating, vomiting, eating disorder, pharmacotherapy