There's only one problem: Celexa is expected to lose patent protection at the beginning of 2004.
At that point, 80% or more of Celexa's sales could vanish in an instant.
The Danish Medicines Agency reportedly complained that the new drug is no better than Celexa.
Now she takes half a milligram of Xanax twice a day, and 20 milligrams of Celexa at night.
So scientists at Lundbeck cut the Celexa molecule in half to see if it would work better that way.
But sometime after December, generic copycats could push Celexa sales off a cliff.
Still, he is bullish on Forest right now, largely on the strength of its two antidepressant drugs, Celexa and Lexapro.
Lexapro, a slightly modified version of Celexa, may work a little better.
In order to guard against the generics, Forest is trying to switch patients from Celexa to Lexapro, which still has years of patent protection.
Medicines such as Prozac and Forest's Celexa work only on serotonin.
But not everyone agrees that Lexapro is far superior to Celexa.
Celexa has been one of the biggest success stories in the pharmaceuticals business, but Forest will lose the exclusive right to sell the drug in December.
Forest says clinical trials involving 1, 100 patients show that a low, 10-milligram dose of Lexapro is as effective at relieving depression as a 40-mg dose of Celexa.
The small specialty pharmaceutical company licensed Celexa from Lundbeck, a Danish drug firm, and turned it into blockbuster drug by pricing it aggressively and marketing its superior safety profile.
On Sept. 15 Forest Laboratories pled guilty to a criminal charge that it illegally promoted its antidepressant Celexa (no. 14) in kids when it was not approved for such use.
The feds alleged the company touted one positive study of Celexa in adolescents, while not mentioning the fact that another big study in adolescents had failed to show any effect.
There are two pieces of the Celexa molecule that may be active in the body, but only one of them seems to be involved in helping to relieve symptoms of depression.
Reliant's Krivulka wholeheartedly agrees: He points to Forest Labs (nyse: FRX - news - people ) and its blockbuster antidepressant Celexa, which usurped much of Prozac's market share.
Lexapro doesn't need to be as big as Celexa, but it does need to be big enough to recoup most of the sales Forest will lose when generic Celexa hits the market.
Investors should keep a close watch on the switch from Celexa to Lexapro and not worry too much about new indications for memantine, which is not yet approved for its primary indication, Alzheimer's.
The current crop of drugs, including the big names such as Prozac, Celexa and Effexor, work by boosting levels of brain transmitters serotonin or norepinephrine or both, but they take several weeks to kick in and have side effects including sexual dysfunction.
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