Clinical trial of a test stick to control patient compliance under nomifensine treatment.

A reliable and rapid way of assessing patient compliance is the use of a semi-quantitative drug determination in the urine. Almost all urines were positive to a microchromatographic test stick 2-6 hours after 25 or 100 mg nomifensine was taken orally by healthy normal volunteers. The test reliability between different observers varied between 76 and 100 per cent. False positive results were regularly observed with carbamazepine and triamterene, and false negatives or weakened reactions with lithium. The test is reliable and highly 'time-specific'. Its applicability is, therefore, restricted to very specific questions.