Research project

ANTLER - Anti-depressants to prevent relapse in depression

Lead researcher:

Professor Tony Kendrick
Other researchers:

Emeritus Professor Michael Moore
Research funder:

National Institute of Health and Care Research
Website:

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/psychiatry/research/epidemiology-and-applied-clinical-research-department/what-are-we-studying
Status:

Not active

Project overview

ANTLER is an individually randomised double blind placebo controlled trial that will recruit patients who have taken antidepressants for at least 9 months but are now well enough to consider stopping the treatment.

Eligible participants will be taking either citalopram 20mg, sertraline 100mg, fluoxetine 20mg or mirtazapine 30mg per day. In the Trial, Patients will either continue to use the active drugs for 12 months or be allocated to placebo group, where the antidepressant medication will be tapered over 2 months to reduce withdrawal effects.

The results will provide clearer, evidence based guidance as to the effectiveness of long term maintenance antidepressant treatment, allowing doctors to give better advice to people who have taken antidepressants for some time.

The research is being organised by University College London in collaboration with the University of Bristol, Southampton and the Hull York Medical School. It is funded by The NHS National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) HTA. The study is also supported by the NIHR Clinical Research Networks.