SSRIs; Fluoxetine + Aminoglutethimide - Drug Interactions

Limited evidence suggests that effects of fluoxetine are increased by aminoglutethimide

Clinical evidence,mechanism, importance and management

A patient with severe obsessive-compulsive disorder,resistant to clomipramine combined with SSRIs, improved when given fluoxetine 40mg daily and aminoglutethimide 250mg four times daily. Over a four-and-ahalf year period, whenever attempts were made to reduce dosage of either drug, patient started to relapse (See reference number 1). Thus at least one patient has taken both drugs together without problems, and evidence suggests that aminoglutethimide has a potentiating effect on fluoxetine. However, more study is needed to confirm efficacy and safety of this drug combination in other patients.

1. Chouinard G,Bélanger M-C, Beauclair L, Sultan S, Murphy BEP. Potentiation of fluoxetineby aminoglutethimide, an adrenal steroid suppressant, in obsessive-compulsive disorder resistant to SSRIs: a case report. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry (1996) 20, 1067–79.