This use of the drug, also known as Prozac, and other serotonin-uptake blockers was studied and patented by Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers. The FDA gave Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co., which developed Prozac, the rights to market Sarafem for PMDD, which affects 3 to 5 percent of menstruating women in the United States. In November 1999, a FDA advisory committee recommended that the drug should be used to treat women whose symptoms are severe enough to interfere with daily social and professional functioning. The drug is expected to be available in pharmacies in August.
Serotonin affects mood and appetite.
Judith Wurtman, research scientist in MIT's Department of Brain and Cognitive Studies, later showed that women with PMS overeat carbohydrates and gain weight. She speculated that this overeating increases brain serotonin, which diminishes feelings of depression and anger. This was the first suggestion that some PMDD and PMS symptoms might be caused by inadequate brain serotonin. The Wurtmans tested this theory by giving affected women sertonin uptake blockers such as Prozac, which increases brain serotonin, or special mixtures of dietary carbohydrates. Both methods improved symptoms.