Dr. Berman Replies

Letter to the Editor

Sir: We thank Drs. Rakofsky and Ghaemi for their inquiry onthe recent study published by my colleagues and me. This articlereports the first of 2 studies (see also Marcus et al.) inwhich we present the efficacy and safety of aripiprazole as adjunctivetreatment to standard antidepressant therapy (ADT) inpatients with major depressive disorder who have had an inadequateresponse to ADTs. This study showed that adjunctivearipiprazole, compared with adjunctive placebo, significantlyimproved depressive symptoms as measured by the change inthe Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale total scorefrom baseline, the primary outcome measure.