Trial reportJournal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England)2025
A randomised double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of pramipexole in addition to mood stabilisers for patients with treatment-resistant bipolar depression (the PAX-BD study).
Trial report in Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Pramipexole in addition to mood stabilisers for treatment-resistant bipolar depression: the PAX-BD randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trial.Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) · 2025Trial
- Depression in neurodegenerative disease: neurobiological mechanisms and emerging treatments.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Review
- Pharmacotherapeutic Options in Drug-Resistant Bipolar Depression: From Molecular Mechanisms to Rational Polypharmacotherapy.Biomedicines · 2026Review
- Article
- Question: What Are the Management Options for Treatment-Resistant Bipolar Disorder With Recurrent Mood Switches Despite Being on Clozapine, Lithium, Lamotrigine, and Ketamine?Journal of clinical psychopharmacologyArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
37 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundOptions for 'treatment-resistant bipolar depression' (TRBD) are limited. Two small, short-term, trials of pramipexole suggest it might be an option.
aimsTo evaluate the clinical effectiveness and safety of pramipexole in the management of TRBD.
methodsA multi-centre randomised, double-blind controlled trial including participants ⩾18 years old with TRBD (failure to respond, tolerate or clinical contraindication/patient refusal of ⩾2 of quetiapine, olanzapine, lamotrigine or lurasidone) randomised 1:1 to pramipexole (max 2.5 mg/day salt weight) or placebo added to ongoing mood stabiliser (
resultsPramipexole (
conclusionsClinically large, but statistically non-significant, effects of pramipexole on depression at 12 weeks, with significant longer-term benefits on mood and function were observed. Pramipexole use was complicated by dose titration and increased hypomanic symptoms. The small sample size limits interpretation. Furthermore, larger randomised placebo-controlled trials are warranted.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.