Levomilnacipran is an antidepressant

Antidepressant

An antidepressant is a psychiatric medication used to alleviate mood disorders, such as major depression and dysthymia and anxiety disorders such as social anxiety disorder. According to Gelder, Mayou &*Geddes people with a depressive illness will experience a therapeutic effect to their mood;...

 currently under development by Forest Laboratories

Forest Laboratories

Forest Laboratories is a pharmaceutical company headquartered in New York City, USA. Its revenues for the year ended 31 March 2007 were US$3.4 billion. The company's research and development spending has grown rapidly in recent years, and as of 2007, approached almost a billion US dollars a year,...

 for the treatment of depression in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. As of 2009 it is in phase III clinical trial

Clinical trial

Clinical trials are a set of procedures in medical research and drug development that are conducted to allow safety and efficacy data to be collected for health interventions...

s. Levomilnacipran is an active enantiomer

Enantiomer

In chemistry, an enantiomer is one of two stereoisomers that are mirror images of each other that are non-superposable , much as one's left and right hands are the same except for opposite orientation. It can be clearly understood if you try to place your hands one over the other without...

 of milnacipran

Milnacipran

Milnacipran is a serotonin–norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor used in the clinical treatment of fibromyalgia...

 and therefore has similar effects and pharmacology

Pharmacology

Pharmacology is the branch of medicine and biology concerned with the study of drug action. More specifically, it is the study of the interactions that occur between a living organism and chemicals that affect normal or abnormal biochemical function...

, acting as a serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor

Serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor

Serotonin–norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors are a class of antidepressant drugs used in the treatment of major depression and other mood disorders...

.
On 20 January 2011, Forest and Pierre Fabre Medicament announced that levomilnacipran was no better than placebo in a late-stage clinical trial. Two other late-stage trials will be finished in mid-2011.