[1][2] It was under development for the treatment of major depressive disorder, but in May 2013, it was reported that the drug failed to show superior efficacy to placebo in a phase IIb/IIIa clinical trial.

[3] In September 2017, development of amitifadine for the treatment of major depressive disorder was finally officially discontinued.

[2] The IC50 values for serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine uptake are 12, 23 and 96 nM, respectively Amitifadine reduces the duration of immobility in the forced swim test in rats with an oral minimum effective dose (MED) of 5 mg/kg.

In microdialysis studies, amitifadine increased extracellular levels of serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine in brain regions and did not induce hyperactivity in rats.

[4] Results in a small clinical trial indicated that amitifadine had statistically significant antidepressant effects and was well tolerated.