Posted by bleauberry on April 2, 2009, at 15:49:34
In reply to are there any new AD out there?, posted by overtheedge on April 1, 2009, at 13:30:51
Keep an eye on Milnacipran (Ixel overseas, Savella in USA), scheduled to be released in USA pharmacies some time in May. It was approved for Fibromyalgia in USA, but has been a strong performing antidepressant in the rest of the world for years. I suspect they chose the Fibro route with FDA to avoid the treacherous political/economic environment of antidepressants in the USA. Once doctors get wind of it being a good antidepressant, I suspect it will be prescribed off label regularly. Weird. It is specifically an antidepressant elsewhere in the world, but will have to be off label in USA.
It is an SNRI with a potency of approximately 3 parts norepinephrine to 1 part serotonin. Fairly equally balanced, in contrast to Cymbalta which is 9:1 serotonin:norepinephrine or Effexor which is 30:1 serotonin:norepinephrine.
I saw at a forum where patients rate their meds that one person who failed all meds and also failed ECT, found Milnacipran to work very well.
It is a number one antidepressant in Japan.
It was already supposed to have been released, but the company at the last minute decided to change the colors of the pills in the starter pack.
poster:bleauberry
thread:888069
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090330/msgs/888248.html