FDA Approves Powerful New Treatment For Depression (NAPSA)—Forest Laboratories (NYSE: FRX) announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a powerful new antidepressant called Lexapro” (escitalopram oxalate), the single-active isomer of the widely prescribed antidepressant Celexa™ (citalopram HBr). Lexapro is an effective and welltolerated selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI). “Lexapro represents a new and highly effective option for treating patients with depression, in that the efficacy is well established at a low dose, and the tolerability is comparable to that of placebo,” \ sor and Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University. Depressionis a serious medical illness. In any one-year period, 9.5 percent of the U.S. population, or ment. As with all SSRIs, full anti- said Martin Keller, M.D., Profes- about 18.8 million American adults, suffer from a depressive illness. According to the World Health Organization, depression is pro- jected to becomethe leading cause of disability and the second leading contributor to the global burden of disease by the year 2020. Symptomsof depression may vary from person to person but often include a persistent sad mood, loss of interest or pleasure in activities that were once enjoyed, significant change in appetite or body weight, difficulty sleeping or oversleeping, physical slowingor agitation, loss of energy, feelings of worthlessness or inappropriate guilt, difficulty thinking or concentrating, and repeated thoughts of death or suicide. In clinical trials involving more than 1,100 patients with moderate and severe depression, Lexapro, at a daily dose of 10 mg, was shown to relieve the symptomsof depression for many patients beginning after a Patients now have a newtreat- ment option for depression. the first or second week of treatdepressanteffect may occur four to six weeksafter the start of treatment. Lexapro was also shown to improve the anxiety symptomsof depression, which are present in 80 percent of depressed patients, as early as the first week of treatment. Lexapro dropout rates due to adverse events andthe overall incidence of side effects for the 10 mg daily dose were comparable to placebo in the studies. The most common adverse events reported by patients taking Lexapro were nausea, insomnia, ejaculation disorder, somnolence, sweating increased andfatigue. “While Celexa, which Forestfirst introduced in 1998, is still the fastest growing SSRI in the market and has proven effective in the treatment of major depression, Lexapro’s combination of tolerability and powerful efficacy, resulting in many patients experiencing relief early in their treatment, may makeit highly desirable for the treatment of major depression,” said Howard Solomon, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Forest Laboratories. For more information, visit www.lexapro.com.
