It is aviable for commercial use in my country Chile, since this month.
Hi. Agomelatin has interesting mechanism of action in that it is dual acting - serotonin and melatonin. Hence it should be slightly better tha
I had great theoritical hope in agomelatine but the clinical results are disappointing, as an only medication and as an association as well.
Some studies say that valdoxan make its effect from the fifth day of treatment....
In fact, I recently realized that agomelatine can have a late action, even 2 or 3 months after starting the medication.
Dear Bernard, your comment is very interesting. however, there is a possibility that agomelatine had not much to do with the response as it may have been spontaneous remission which is well known in depression.
Before assuming that agomelatine works for depression, I would suggest reading these articles:
1. Howland RH (2011) Publication bias and outcome reporting bias: agomelatine as a case example. J Psychosoc Nurs Ment Health Serv 49: 11–14. doi:10.3928/02793695-20110809-01.
2. Howland RH (2009) Critical appraisal and update on the clinical utility of agomelatine, a melatonergic agonist, for the treatment of major depressive disease in adults. Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat 5: 563–576.
No. As Erick Turner points out, agomelatine is yet another product of the paper mill and pharmaceutical company promotion, just like the others.
Since it is such a new drug, long-term adverse effects are unknown. It's taken years to emerge that, long after you've discontinued them, SSRIs, for example, can cause sexual dysfunction (Post-SSRI Sexual Disorder, or PSSD), long-term emotional anesthesia, or long-term withdrawal syndrome. With agomelatine's action on melatonin, how would you like your ability to sleep to be damaged long-term?
The pharmaceutical companies and the psychiatry establishment have shown a remarkable lack of responsibility for patient safety in the marketing, distribution, and widespread prescription of psychiatric drugs. You take agomelatine at your own risk, equivalent to that of a lab rat.
I second what Erick and Alto have said above and simply add don't get your hopes up.
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