Prozac can cause nausea
The authors concluded: “This study demonstrates the superior efficacy of agomelatine over fluoxetine – Prozac – in treating severe depression, with a good tolerability profile, confirming that agomelatine offers a good alternative for the treatment of depression including the severe forms.”
Lead researcher Professor Tony Hale, head of division of psychiatry at the University of Kent, added: “These results, showing better efficacy over Prozac, one of the most commonly prescribed antidepressants in the UK, add to the growing wealth of evidence supporting agomelatine as a new and important alternative for the treatment of depression.
“Despite the wide range of currently available antidepressants, there are still unmet needs in the management of depression.”

Positive Buzz
There are a lot of people buzzing about the drug about, i caught the following comments:

“I was part of a clinical trial with agomelatine last year for GAD (General Anxiety disorders) and was on agomelatine for 4 months. At the beginning I was extremely skeptical, which I think could be attributed to being a neuroscience PhD student. I’ve done preclinical research in the area of antidepressants for years and my knowledge of the field has led me to be very questioning towards such medications. But the effects of agomelatine really forced me to change my point of view. Before this trial I had never taken anything for my GAD and I found that I started to feel different after about 2 weeks. The experience was absolutely life changing and I’ve never been able to replicate it with other medications since.

The thing that made the biggest impression was the quality of my sleep. My sleep was incredible. I can’t even fully describe it. I hadn’t even realized that my sleep was so bad until it changed. I would wake up feeling absolutely refreshed and energized. I would be very alert and awake all day and right up until bedtime. My sleep was very regular and very efficient. I found I needed much less sleep and felt better than ever.

My GAD symptoms also pretty much disappeared with absolutely NO side effects. And I appreciate this so much more in hindsight because I seem to be VERY sensitive to side effects of SSRI’s and I’ve been struggling in vain since I stopped agomelatine.

When I came off the drug I wasn’t aware of it (after 4 months of medications we started a period of double-blind placebo), but it was obvious within the first week. I didn’t experience any actual withdrawal symptoms, I just went back to the way I had been before. My sleep was terrible and all my GAD symptoms came back over the course of a few weeks.”

How does it work?
Valdoxan (agomelatine) is the first melatonergic antidepressant. The drug combines antidepressant efficacy with an extremely favourable side-effect profile and has
the additional benefit of sleep regulation in depressive patients.
So you have tow effects there :
First the drug does promote serotonin reuptake as usual SSRI drugs do, but you don’t get the traditional side effects.
Second the drug relieves from sleep disruption without affecting daytime vigilance.
The combination of these two effects is seen as a key advantage for an antidepressant.

What is Valdoxan expected to be used for?
Valdoxan is expected to be used in adult patients to treat major depressive disorder. In major depressive disorder, patients have disturbances of mood that interfere with their everyday life. They may suffer from deep sadness, feelings of worthlessness, loss of interest in favourite activities, sleep disturbances, feeling of being slowed down, feelings of anxiety, changes in weight. The key symptoms are depressed mood and loss/diminished interest or pleasure. Patients often suffer relapses (when the disease comes back after it has been treated).

Is it available ?
Agomelatine was launched in the UK by manufacturer Servier in June at a pack price of £38.53 for a packet of 28 25mg tablets – compared to the £1.02 net cost of a 30-cap pack of 20mg fluoxetine.

Data on Valdoxan here:
http://emc.medicines.org.uk/medicine/21830/SPC/Valdoxan/
http://www.paxilprogress.org/forums/showthread.php?t=14390
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agomelatine