A CLINICAL TRIAL OF ISOCARBOXAZID (`MARPLAN') IN ANGINA PECTORIS

Abstract

A "within patients" clinical trial of isocarboxazid ("Marplan") (30 mg daily for 3 weeks) compared with a placebo (of similar dosage) was conducted under "double blind" conditions on 50 patients with moderate or severe anginal pain. The trial was designed to have a 95% power of detecting as significant, at the conventional 5% level, a real difference between treatments of 35% or more in the proportion of patients reporting a successful treatment. Of 25 patients implying a preference, 14 favored marplan and 11 favored the placebo compared with 12.5 expected in favor of each on the null hypothesis. As P=0.69, no significant difference between marplan as administered and the placebo was detected.