NEW YORK — A drug under development by Forest Labs and Pierre Fabre "significantly" reduced symptoms of major depressive disorder, the companies said Wednesday.

New York-based Forest and Paris-based Pierre Fabre announced results of a phase-3 trial of levomilnacipran, saying the drug showed reductions in symptoms as early as one week after treatment was started. The companies expect results of another phase-3 trial of the drug this spring.

The study included 442 men and women ages 18 to 80 years, who first received placebo for a week and were then randomly placed into a treatment group or a placebo group for eight weeks.

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