What is "femoxetine"

n. An SSRI related to paroxetine.

Femoxetine ( INN) (tentative brand name Malexil; developmental code name FG-4963) is a drug related to paroxetine that was being developed as an antidepressant by Danish pharmaceutical company Ferrosan in 1975 before acquisition by Novo Nordisk. It acts as a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI). Development was halted to focus attention on paroxetine instead, given femoxetine's inability to be administered as a daily pill.

Both femoxetine and paroxetine were invented in the 1970s by Jorgen Buus-Lassen (Jørgen Anders Christensen name on the patents though). After Ferrosan's acquisition, femoxetine died from neglect.