Baclofen for binge eating: an open-label trial.

OBJECTIVE

Baclofen is a GABA-B agonist that may be useful in the treatment of substance use disorders, and also reduces 'binge-like' eating in rodents. We hypothesized that baclofen might be effective in reducing binge eating episodes in binge eating disorder (BED) and bulimia nervosa (BN).

METHOD: Seven women with BED (n = 4) or BN (n = 3) took baclofen (60 mg/day) for 10 weeks.

RESULTS

Six out of seven patients completed the full 10-week trial. Five out of seven participants (3 BED; 2 BN) demonstrated 50% or greater reduction of frequency of binge eating from beginning to end of the study. Three out of seven participants (2 BED; 1 BN) were free of binge eating at study end. Four out of seven participants elected to continue baclofen at study end. Baclofen was well tolerated by the participants.

CONCLUSION

In this open-label trial, baclofen was associated with decreased binge eating frequency in patients with BED and BN.