fluoxetine (opens in new tab)

Fluoxetine (Prozac®), FDA-approved in 1987 for depression, became the class-defining SSRI and helped reshape antidepressant treatment. Its path to approval was non-trivial, as despite encouraging in vitro and ex vivo evidence of selective serotonin uptake inhibition, fluoxetine drew skepticism because it lacked activity in widely accepted antidepressant animal models. While the simple serotonin-deficiency model that helped motivate SSRI development is now considered incomplete, yet SSRIs rema...