Pharmacologic Characteristics of Ideal Antidepressants in the 21st Century

The availability of drugs for use as antidepressants has expanded greatly in the past 2 decades. Notonly has the number of drugs increased but so has the diversity in associated pharmacologic effects.Drug development for central nervous system agents is proceeding at an accelerated pace. The comingdecades hold the promise for the introduction of newer antidepressants that have novel mechanismsof action, improved adverse event profiles, and expanded indications. Unfortunately, the ideal antidepressantis yet to be formulated. Pharmacologic characteristics for desirable improvements are discussedrelative to the currently available drugs.