Friday, January 30, 2009

Which antidepressants are most effective?

The glut of antidepressant drugs on the market and the ads for them may have you – not to mention doctors – wondering how to tell one from the other. But a new study sheds light on which ones may be most effective in battling the blues.

Topping the list of a dozen prescription antidepressants reviewed: Zoloft and Lexapro. Patients taking those drugs in trials were also the least likely to drop out. But because Zoloft, made by New York-based Pfizer, is now off patent and available in relatively cheap, generic form, it may be the better choice for patients starting antidepressant therapy, write authors of the study published today in The Lancet, who are from Italy, Greece, England and Japan.

READ MORE @ SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN