Glaxo Wellcome glx (nyse: glx - news - people) tried the same thing with its antidepressant drug buproprion in 1997, a drug it has sold under the name Wellbutrin since 1987.
Another reason the public may have gotten a skewed view of antidepressant efficacy is that drug companies have tended to publicize only their most positive studies.
One of the drugs that appear to reverse these effects is ketamine (I wrote about it recently here), an anesthetic that has the ability to rejuvenate damaged nerve cells in hours, potentially making it a groundbreaking new type of antidepressant Derivatives of the drug are already in human trials.
Chief among the contenders are a series of drugs that affect the central nervous system, with a new antidepressant and an anti-anxiety drug on deck.
Glaxo was defending its Paxil, an antidepressant, against a challenge from generic drug maker Apotex .
The drug giant admitted promoting two antidepressant drugs for unapproved uses, including treatment of children and adolescents.
However the dosages used in the trial, 350mg three times a day, were higher than those normally recommended - and the prescription antidepressant compared against it is an old drug with more side effects than the latest varieties.
Also worth noting: many drug companies are backing out of antidepressant research, which may make new assets in that area less attractive.
Well, this isn't the first time a drug company has tried to move an antidepressant into a new market by giving it a new name.
Lilly (nyse: LLY - news - people ) moved a little farther along in its comeback story Monday when it received conditional approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for Cymbalta, a new antidepressant.
Zoloft, the antidepressant, and Norvasc, its big-selling hypertension drug, were the culprits in the second quarter.
To get to your question, the antidepressant potential of ketamine was discovered serendipitously in patients receiving the drug for the treatment of complex regional pain syndrome, or CRPS, a miserable condition characterized by severe pain, swelling and changes in the skin.
Merck developed a drug that worked against nausea caused by chemotherapy, but it flopped as an antidepressant in humans.
Earlier this month, the FDA rejected Wyeth's Pristiq, an antidepressant that was being tested for menopausal symptoms, saying it wants additional clinical trials on the drug's heart and liver side effects.
GSK, maker of Paxil, the antidepressant, and Flonase, an antiallergy steroid, wants to appear open and accessible at a time when drug companies are on the defensive.
Until Chantix was approved, smokers had two drug options: nicotine replacement, including patches, gums and inhalers, and Zyban, a generic antidepressant developed by GlaxoSmithkline a decade ago.
Any given antidepressant helps only about one-third of the people who try it, forcing patients to shuffle through one drug after another until they find something that works.
It remains the most popular psychiatric drug, topping more recently introduced medicines like the sleeping pill Ambien (No. 2) and the antidepressant Lexapro (No. 3).
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