ANTIDEPRESSANTS

The New Generation of antidepressants began with Prozac. It belonged to a brand new category of antidepressants called "Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors". The other SSRI antidepressants that were developed after Prozac are listed on this slide -- paroxetine or Paxil, Sertraline or Zoloft, and fluvoxamine or Luvox. Within 2 years of its introduction, Prozac became the number one selling antidepressant in the world and in the U.S.A. The SSRI's are so called because of their mechanism of action which is to block the serotonin reuptake pump which scavenges the released serotonin through the cell wall back into the intracellular space.