Brofaromine--a selective, reversible, and short-acting MAO-A inhibitor: review of the pharmacological and clinical findings.

During recent years the MAO inhibitors have come to assume increasing importance in clinical practice. Attempts have been made to improve the tolerability of these substances by evolving a new generation of MAO inhibitors. Brofaromine, a newly developed MAO inhibitor of the second generation, is a selective, reversible, and short-acting MAO-A inhibitor. Under this drug, the dangerous "cheese effect" can be expected to occur only under extreme conditions, if at all. Clinical trials performed to date, including double-blind trials versus tranylcypromine and imipramine, have shown that brofaromine displays good antidepressive efficacy and good tolerability.