SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) were first developed in the 1970s and reached the market in the early 1980s, with broader use taking off later in that decade.

Key dates

  • Experimental SSRI compounds were described and studied in the early to mid‑1970s, including early work on fluoxetine (later branded as Prozac).
  • Zimelidine is usually cited as the first SSRI to be sold, introduced in Europe around 1982 before being withdrawn in 1983 because of rare but serious side effects.
  • Fluoxetine (Prozac), whose development began around 1970, was approved in the United States in 1987 and became the prototype widely recognized SSRI antidepressant.

So, SSRIs as a drug class were effectively “invented” in the 1970s, with the first marketed SSRI appearing in 1982 and the most famous early SSRI, fluoxetine, entering clinical use in 1987.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.