CONTEXT Adjunctive restorative therapies administered during the first few months after stroke, the period with the greatest degree of spontaneous recovery, reduce the number of stroke patients with significant disability. OBJECTIVE To examine the effect of escitalopram on cognitive outcome. We hypothesized that patients who received escitalopram would show improved performance in neuropsycho...

Recent preclinical studies have revealed a functionally important role for the drug efflux pump P-glycoprotein (P-gp) at the blood-brain barrier in limiting brain levels and thus antidepressant-like activity of certain antidepressant drugs. Specifically, acute administration of P-gp inhibitors, such as verapamil and cyclosporin A (CsA), has been shown to augment brain concentrations and functio...

AIMS To investigate the transfer of escitalopram and its demethyl metabolite into milk, the absolute and relative infant doses via milk and to assess any unwanted effects in the breastfed infant. METHODS Multiple samples of blood and milk were obtained over a dose interval at steady state from eight women who were taking escitalopram for postnatal depression. Drug concentrations in plasma and...

BACKGROUND "Evergreening" refers to the numerous strategies whereby owners of pharmaceutical products use patent laws and minor drug modifications to extend their monopoly privileges on the drug. We aimed to evaluate the impact of evergreening through the case study of the antidepressant citalopram and its chiral switch form escitalopram by evaluating treatment efficacy and acceptability for pa...

PURPOSE To prospectively assess the efficacy of the selective serotonin inhibitor escitalopram on painful bone metastases, in combination with external beam irradiation. METHODS Forty-three patients with cancer metastatic to bone and suffering from depression were treated with 3 Dimensional Conformal Radiotherapy (3DCRT) (30 Gy; 3 Gy/fraction, 5 days/week) combined with escitalopram (20 mg/da...

BACKGROUND Depression has a lifetime prevalence of 10%-25% among women and 5%-12% among men. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are the most used and the most cost-effective treatment for long-term major depressive disorder. Since the introduction of generic SSRIs, the costs of branded drugs have been questioned. The objective of this study was to assess the cost-effectiveness (€ p...

although pregnancy was once thought to protect against psychiatric disorders, gravid and non gravid women have similar risks for major depression, at 10% to 15%. both depression and antidepressant treatment during pregnancy have been associated with risks. few medications have been proved unequivocally safe during pregnancy. although certain antidepressants have not been linked with an increase...

Objective The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy and safety of escitalopram, paroxetine and venlafaxine in Korean patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). Methods A total of 449 Korean MDD patients were recruited in a six-week, randomized, rater-blinded, active-controlled trial and were evenly randomized to paroxetine, venlafaxine, or escitalopram treatment. Results Whe...

The aim of this review was to assess the clinical relevance of the relative antidepressant efficacy of escitalopram and citalopram by meta-analysis. Studies in major depressive disorder (MDD) with both escitalopram and citalopram treatment arms were identified. Adult patients had to meet DSM-IV criteria for MDD. The primary outcome measure was the treatment difference in Montgomery-Asberg Depre...

Escitalopram is a commonly prescribed antidepressant of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor class. Clinical evidence and mapping of the serotonin transporter (SERT) identified that escitalopram, in addition to its binding to a primary uptake-blocking site, is capable of binding to the SERT via an allosteric site that is hypothesized to alter escitalopram's kinetics at the SERT. The studi...