Escitalopram

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In psychiatry, escitalopram is a second-generation antidepressant for treating major depressive disorder. Escitalopram is the S-enantiomer of racemic citalopram.[1]

History

Lexapro brand of escitalopramwas approved by the Food and Drug Administration in the United States with a New Drug Application (NDA) in 2002.[2]

Efficacy

According to a systematic review by the Cochrane Collaboration:[1]

"Some statistically significant differences favouring escitalopram over other antidepressive agents for the acute phase treatment of major depression were found, in terms of efficacy (citalopram and fluoxetine) and acceptability (duloxetine). There is insufficient evidence to detect a difference between escitalopram and other antidepressants in early response to treatment (after two weeks of treatment). Cost-effectiveness information is also needed in the field of antidepressant trials. Furthermore, as with most standard systematic reviews, the findings rely on evidence from direct comparisons. The potential for overestimation of treatment effect due to sponsorship bias should also be borne in mind."

External links

The most up-to-date information about Escitalopram and other drugs can be found at the following sites.


References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Cipriani A, Santilli C, Furukawa TA, Signoretti A, Nakagawa A, McGuire H et al. (2009). "Escitalopram versus other antidepressive agents for depression.". Cochrane Database Syst Rev (2): CD006532. DOI:10.1002/14651858.CD006532.pub2. PMID 19370639. Research Blogging.
  2. Drugs@FDA.