Posted by Elizabeth on June 8, 2001, at 19:50:05
In reply to Meridia, posted by SalArmy4me on June 8, 2001, at 1:16:09
> Why didn't Meridia get marketed as an antidepressant? It says on the prescribing info that Meridia "is a potent inhibitor of serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) and norepinephrine reuptake." Does anyone get an antidepressant effect from it?
It didn't get marketed as an AD (although lab studies on rats frequently refer to it as an antidepressant) because, after Redux and fenfluramine got pulled from the market, there was an opening in the market for diet pills. The antidepressant market, meanwhile, is saturated with various monoaminergic drugs and me-toos.
It's even wackier than that. Solely because it's marketed as a diet pill -- not because of anything about its pharmacology -- Meridia is a controlled substance (C-IV). It's no more addictive than Effexor, and in fact is chemically similar to Effexor. I personally suspect that it's a crappy diet pill, no better than...well, Effexor, and a fine antidepressant, no worse than...well, Effexor.
-elizabeth
poster:Elizabeth
thread:65734
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010605/msgs/65833.html