Serendipity in psychotropic drugs: Unearthing the origins

Abstract

This is a dive into the history of several groundbreaking psychiatric drugs and their discoveries. The article begins by exploring the curious origin of the word “serendipity” following Horace Walpole’s encounter with a fairytale. This captivating emergence of “serendipity” is followed by an account of lithium discovered in 1817. About a century and a half later, lithium would receive FDA approval, becoming a cornerstone in the treatment of mania.The narrative meanders to other drugs that have a similar thread of serendipity woven into their beginnings— chlordiazepoxide, meprobamate, chlorpromazine, finally halting at iproniazid, an anti-tubercular agent that unexpectedly revealed its mood-enhancing potential and paved the way for the development of monoamine oxidase inhibitors as antidepressants.The authors navigate through the intricacies of chance and discovery that have influenced the trajectory of psychiatric drug development, leading to unexpected breakthroughs that have forever left their mark on the undeniably vast landscape that is mental health.