Posted by SLS on September 10, 2002, at 7:11:17
In reply to The hard, cold facts about Lexapro, posted by ZyprexaNumbTongue on September 6, 2002, at 14:37:39
> 1) Lexapro is formally classified as an SSRI. Lexapro is not a truly new or novel antidepressant such as a CRF-Antagonist, subsance P drug, an MAOI patch or other drug.
The majority of people posting on PB do not respond equally to all of the SSRIs. It is my impression that the same is true in the general population of depressed individuals. I think the words "truly new or novel" might be interpreted differently by those for whom Celexa has been the only SSRI that they have responded to. There are many of them. Still, it does not seem intuitive that Lexapro would have any advantage over Celexa as far as efficacy is concerned. However, it is conceivable that r-citalopram interferes with the therapeutic action of s-citalopram. If this were the case, Lexapro would be more effective than Celexa.
It doesn't hurt to have more *superficially* similar drugs available for the same illness unless it somehow discourages the development of those that are very dissimilar. I don't know if this is true or not.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:109458
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020906/msgs/119448.html