A BRIEF HISTORY OF

PROZAC

THE death of Elizabeth Wurtzel earlier this month saw the antidepressant Prozac lose possibly its greatest advocate. Wurtzel’s 1994 confessional memoir Prozac Nation did much to cement the drug in the popular conversation.

Prozac was the It drug of the 1990s, with everyone from Winona Ryder, pictured, to Johnny Depp admitting to taking it. Launched in 1987 by the American pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, by 1999 Prozac was responsible for a quarter of its £10bn revenue. When the company lost its patent two years later its market value fell by $35m in one day.

Still, the drug remains widely used. And its Scottish. Well, partly. Developed in the early 1970s under the name Fluoxetine (Prozac is the brand name), it was developed by a team of chemists including Bryan Molloy, originally from Broughty Ferry.

It works by targeting serotonin levels. But like any drug it is not without sideeffects. It’s great for cuddles but not for sex, it seems. One study suggested that as many as 98 per cent of those taking the drugs suffer from some form of sexual dysfunction.

It has also been linked persistently with causing suicidal thoughts, although the numbers reporting this are much smaller than those who feel the benefit. (One study suggested one in 500 users suffered).

There are other more unlikely side effects. Rising Fluoxetine levels in the sea are causing huge behavioural changes to shrimps, making them more reckless and more vulnerable to predators.

As a result, a link in the food chain is threatened, with possible consequences to the natural eco-system.

Something new to be depressed about.