A DOUBLE-BLIND COMPARISON OF WY-3498, DIAZEPAM AND PLACEBO IN PSYCHIATRIC OUTPATIENTS

Concerning diazepam, the results of this study are in apparent disagreement with the findings of certain other investigators(2-4). In an activity study of diazepam, good or excellent results were reported in 95% of 103 patients; 50% in a group of 60 patients in the same study subsequently placed on placebo for 1 month showed worsening of symptoms(2 The author appraised the effect of diazepam "as good or excellent if it exerted a positive effect upon symptomatology, as compared with previous agents."

In our double-blind study, each of 3 groups of 14 psychoneurotic patients whose predominant symptom was anxiety received either WY-3498, diazepam, or placebo for a period of 6 weeks. Each patient's condition during and at the termination of medication was judged solely against his condition prior to medication, with no attempt to evaluate the patient's response to diazepam as compared with previous agents. In addition, adjunctive drugs and conventional psychotherapy were not used in this experiment. With this procedural approach, neither diazepam nor WY-3498 had a significantly greater therapeutic effect than placebo, not only in the global ratings of improvement but in the Overall and Gorham BPRS as well.