Posted by Ritch on June 19, 2002, at 9:11:56
In reply to Re: Lexapro side-effects, posted by dr. dave on June 19, 2002, at 4:41:27
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> The research shows Lexapro has no significant benefit over Celexa in terms of side-effects. People taking Lexapro 20mg report side-effects at the same rate as those on Celexa 40mg (86%).
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> In the same study more people stopped taking Lexapro 20mg because of side-effects than those taking Celexa 40mg (10.4% vs 8.8%), but this difference was not statistically significant.
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> The reason for this is that Lexapro is to all intents and purposes the same thing as Celexa but re-branded and re-patented. There is no evidence of the R-citalopram component they have removed doing anything of significance pharmacologically. To understand this 'new' drug you have to understand that the patent on Celexa just ran out, but the manufacturers can effectively renew the patent by isolating the active component and re-branding it.
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> See more at http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4434943,00.html
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> The critical comments in the article are mine.
Hi,Thanks for the article. It wouldn't surprise me a whole lot if the only advantage it winds up having is less medicine for your liver to clear out! I have always wondered about the "mechanism" versus "medicine" distinction between antidepressants when it comes to how they work and side-effects. SSRI's all tend to cause many similar wanted and unwanted effects. If they isolated the *active* isomer, then they probably isolated something that is *more* likely to cause typical SSRI wanted and *unwanted* effeects. It will be interesting to see the comments made here when people start "reporting" in about it.
Mitch
poster:Ritch
thread:109458
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020617/msgs/110262.html