What role did the pharmaceutical companies have in STAR*D?
A. All of the study medications were provided free of charge by the pharmaceutical companies that manufactured them. Aside from providing feedback about the dose proposed by STAR*D investigators for each company’s medication, the pharmaceutical companies had no other input into the design or implementation of the study, nor did they have involvement in planning or conducting the data analyses, and they did not participate in preparing manuscripts for publication. The Level 1 antidepressant Celexa (citalopram) was provided by Forest Laboratories. Level 2 drugs were Zoloft (sertraline), provided by Pfizer; Wellbutrin SR (bupropion) from GlaxoSmithKline; Effexor (venlafaxine XR) from Wyeth; and BuSpar (buspirone) from Bristol-Myers-Squibb. Level 3 medications provided were Remeron SolTabs (mirtazepine) from Organon, and Cytomel (T3) triiodothyronine) from King Pharmaceuticals. Other medications such as lithium, nortriptyline and tranylcypromine were purchased in generic form and were paid
