Abstract

Nortriptyline, a new anti-depressant drug, has just been launched simultaneously as a “potent multi-phasic psychotrope, highly predictable in action” (Allegron - Dista), and as a “wide spectrum mood enhancer” (Aventyl - Lilly). Connoisseurs of drug promotion will note that Dista is a subsidiary of Lilly. Nortriptyline has not so far been marketed in the United States, where it was discovered; it has not yet been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. Chemically the drug closely resembles amitriptyline, differing from it by only one methyl group.