Tolerance of daily single compared to space dose of merital.

Merital (Nomifensine) is a tetrahydroiso quinolene which is structurally unrelated to the tricyclics or to the mono amino-oxidase inhibiters. Merital has been reported to have antidepressant properties equivalent to amitryptyline (Grof, Saxena, Daigle, and Mahutte, 1977) and imiprimine (Forrest, Hewett, and Nicholson, 1977) in the treatment of patients with depressive symptoms. Bruckner and Jansen (1977) reported that in 105 depressed patients whose mean age was 74 years, Merital produced significantly better results than placebo. It has been suggested that its mechanism of action is due to potent inhibition of dopamine reuptake at the synaptic terminals (Horn, Coyle, and Snyder, 1971).