Three new antidepressants

Abstract

Antidepressant drug therapy can help many people with moderate or severe depressive illness. Over 30 drugs are included in the British National Formulary for the treatment of depression, available as 40-50 branded and generic preparations. Previously we concluded that the drugs were all of similar efficacy and the differences lay in their unwanted effects and costs.1 In this article, we discuss three new antidepressants which were marketed last year - ▼citalopram, ▼nefazodone and ▼venlafaxine - and assess whether they hold any advantages.