Placebo controlled continuation treatment with Hypericum extract WS 5570 after recovery from a mild or moderate depressive episode.

Patients suffering from an acute episode of mild to moderate major depression and who had been treated successfully with Hypericum perforatum extract WS 5570 in doses of 600 mg/day or 1200 mg/day or with placebo for 6 weeks in a multi-centre, double-blind, randomized clinical trial, were asked to take part in a continuation treatment. Those participants with a HAMD total score decrease > or =50% during acute treatment were eligible for 4 months of double-blind continuation treatment with the same dose regimen. In total, 69, 68 and 24 (WS 5570 600 mg/day, 1200 mg/day and placebo) patients entered continuation treatment. Both WS 5570 groups showed an additional slight decrease of the HAMD total score by 0.8 (600 mg WS 5570/day) and 0.4 (1200 mg WS 5570/day) points during treatment phase, while patients in the placebo group deteriorated by 2.1 points. The incidence of adverse events was low in all therapy groups.