Antiepilepsy drug treats binge-eating disorder

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The anti-seizure drug zonisamide, which goes by the brand name Zonegran, is effective short-term treatment for binge-eating disorder associated with obesity, according to the results of a small study. However, the treatment is not well tolerated.

"Binge eating disorder is associated with obesity," Dr. Susan L. McElroy, of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Ohio, and colleagues write in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. "Zonisamide is a novel antiepileptic drug associated with weight loss."

To investigate the usefulness of this drug for binge-eating, the researchers conducted a 16-week trial in which 60 patients with binge-eating disorder were randomly assigned zonisamide or placebo.

At follow-up, participants in the zonisamide group had a significantly greater reduction in the frequency of binge eating episodes compared with those in the placebo group.

The zonisamide group also had significantly greater improvements in body weight and scores on a standard obsessive-compulsive scale modified for binge eating. The change in measures of depression did not differ between the groups.

Eight patients receiving zonisamide and four on placebo withdrew from the study because of adverse events.

Although zonisamide was superior to placebo, its side effects were problematic, the team concludes. The drug was "associated with only fair tolerability and a relatively high treatment discontinuation rate."

SOURCE: Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, December 2006.