December 18, 2001

Study Finds Most Commonly Prescribed Antidepressants Similar in Effectiveness

INDIANAPOLIS -- An Indiana University School of Medicine and
Regenstrief Institute for Healthcare study published in the Dec.19
issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association has found
that three of the most commonly prescribed antidepressants are similar
in effectiveness for depressive symptoms.

The antidepressants, paroxetine (sold under the brand name Paxil),
fluoxetine (sold under the brand name Prozac and also available in
generic form) and sertaline (sold under the brand name Zoloft), also
were shown to be similar in their effect on health-related quality of
life measures. Those measures included social interactions, ability to
work, sexual functioning and sleep.

This study is the first to compare the effectiveness of paroxetine,
fluoxetine and sertaline. The three antidepressants are all members of
a class of drugs with a similar chemical structure known as selective
serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and work on neurotrasmitter
pathways in the brain to decrease symptoms of depression.

These three drugs are the most commonly prescribed class of
antidepressants in the country, accounting for over 3 billion dollars
of annual prescription costs in the United States and growing by
approximately 25 percent each year, according to published statistics.
Compared to older classes of antidepressants, SSRIs have a more
favorable side effect profile, simpler dosing and less toxicity in the
event of an overdose.

This study followed 573 primary care patients diagnosed with
depression for nine months, well beyond the acute phase of depression.
The patients were randomized to one of the three drugs.

"While clinicians often expect that drugs within a class would have
similar effects, very few head-to-head studies such as the one we
concluded on SSRIs have been done to confirm this", says Kurt
Kroenke, M.D., professor of medicine at the IU School of Medicine and
research scientist at the Regenstrief Institute for Healthcare, the
study's principal investigator.

The study was funded by Eli Lilly & Co., the manufacturer of Prozac.

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