Psychopharmacology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Psychopharmacology - Essay ExampleCOX-2 inhibitors block the action of an enzyme utilise throughout the body to make a large and diverse family of compounds called prostanoids that be involved in rule myriad physiological actions, including inflammation, blood clotting and protection of the stomach lining from the destructive effects of digestive acids (Brown, 2004). Congress is questioning why the FDA didnt force Merck to study Vioxxs heart risk sooner. Merck is facing hundreds of lawsuits and potentially billions of dollars in damages from Vioxx. Pfizer, the makers of celecoxib, which is a rival of Vioxx, have not yet pulled the popular painkiller off the market, although Celebrex also pluss cardiovascular diseases. Celebrex, approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1998 for arthritis pain, has been prescribed to 27 million Americans and is the worlds most widely prescribed arthritis drug (Pfizer cites, 2005).Zoloft, Prozac and Paxil, known as selective serotonin reuptak e inhibitors or SSRIs, atomic number 18 antidepressants and act by enhancing the signals in nerves that transmit messages with serotonin, a neurotransmitter. , which are chemicals that are used to relay and modulate electrical signals between a neuron and another cell, are removed from the synaptic cleft by a process called reuptake. These drugs act on the neurotransmitter serotonin inside the cell by delaying the reuptake process, thereby increasing the serotonergic effect. The regulators at the Food and Drug Administration request that all antidepressant drugs carry a prominent black box warning to alert doctors that the medications increase the risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior among children and adolescents.