Escitalopram

In psychiatry, escitalopram is a second-generation antidepressant for treating major depressive disorder. It is also effective in reducing ethanol uptake in alcoholics and is used in depressed patients who also suffer from tardive dyskinesia in preference to tricyclic antidepressants, which aggravate this condition.

Escitalopram is the S-enantiomer of racemic citalopram.

History

Lexapro brand of escitalopram was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in the United States with a New Drug Application (NDA) in 2002.

Efficacy

According to a systematic review by the Cochrane Collaboration:

"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.

• Escitalopram - FDA approved drug information (drug label) from DailyMed (U.S. National Library of Medicine).
• Escitalopram - Drug information for consumers from MedlinePlus (U.S. National Library of Medicine).
• Escitalopram - Detailed information from DrugBank.