Posted by JLM on October 4, 2002, at 7:10:35
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.Dr. Dave,
I've been meaning to ask you this. What do you think of David Healy's work? What about Teicher, Cole, or Glenmullen?
Its interesting to note that Teicher claimed in the patent for r-fluoxetine 'Pure R(-) fluoxetine functions as an effective antidepressant with a shorter half life and shorter duration of action than the racemic mixture or the S(+) isomer of fluoxetine. Having a shorter half life and shorter duration of action results in less accumulation of R(-) fluoxetine in a patient's body. This in turn results in decreased adverse effects including headaches, nervousness, anxiety, insomnia, inner restlessness (akathisia), nausea, diarrhea, drowsiness, decreased libido and/or sexual dysfunction, suicidal thoughts and self mutilation.'
Some of these things, namely suicide induced by akathisia, have been vehemently denied by Lilly, Glaxo, and damn near everyone else that makes AD's, and its my understanding that they even tried to discredit Teichers earlier work on akathisia. On the one hand they say he's nuts, and on the other hand they pay tens of millions for r-fluoxetine, which he helped develop. Maybe they are just bipolar or schizophrenic?
Some intellectual consistensy, and honesty about SE's would be nice for change from some of these folks. People need to KNOW what might happen to them, in terms of risks vs. benefit. I have no doubt that these drugs do benefit some people, just as David Healy has no doubt. But its time that things are cleaned up a bit, and its time that GP's stop overprecribing psychoactive agents to people when they don't need them.
poster:JLM
thread:109458
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020930/msgs/122269.html