What is "zimelidine"

n. A pyridylallylamine, the first selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressant to be marketed, developed in the early 1980s and later banned due to serious neuropathy and hypersensitivity reactions.

Zimelidine ( INN, BAN) (brand names Zimeldine, Normud, Zelmid) was one of the first selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants to be marketed. It is a pyridylallylamine, and is structurally different from other antidepressants.

Zimelidine was developed in the late 1970s and early 1980s by Arvid Carlsson, who was then working for the Swedish company Astra AB. It was discovered following a search for drugs with structures similar to brompheniramine (it is a derivative of brompheniramine), an antihistamine with antidepressant activity. Zimelidine was first sold in 1982.

While zilmelidine had a very favorable safety profile, within a year and a half of its introduction, rare case reports of Guillain-Barré syndrome emerged that appeared to be caused by the drug, prompting its manufacturer to withdraw it from the market. After its withdrawal, it was succeeded by fluvoxamine and fluoxetine (derived from the antihistamine diphenhydramine) in that order, and the other SSRIs.