Posted by christophrejmc on February 18, 2002, at 22:39:32
In reply to Has anyone heard of new A.D. due out in June? (m), posted by Bissie66 on February 18, 2002, at 12:12:26
A lot of people think this is just a gimmick to extend the patent of Celexa.
Celexa (citalopram) contains the R- and S- enantiomers (just means it contains equal amounts of molecules that have different atomic ordering -- called a racemic mixture). Lexapro (escitalopram) only contains the S- enantiomer (the R- (right) enantiomer is thought to have no anti-depressant effect and may be responsible for some of the side-effects). They probably knew about this all along, but decided to release Celexa just so they could later introduce a new-and-improved version to capture market share they would've lost from Celexa going generic. (Incidentally, S-, as in S-citalopram, stands for sinister (meaning left) -- irony?)
-Christophre
Hmm.. my knowledge of chemistry (especially stereochemistry) is pitiful, someone correct me if I've made a mistake.
poster:christophrejmc
thread:94498
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020215/msgs/94570.html