Carcinogenicity studies of fluoxetine hydrochloride in rats and mice

The antidepressant drug fluoxetine HCl was tested for carcinogenicity in three well designed and controlled studies in Fischer rats and C57BL/6 x C3H F1 mice. The compound was administered to the animals for 24 months at dietary doses of approximately 0, 0.5, 2.0, or 10.0 mg/kg body weight in rats and 1.0, 5.0, or 10.0 mg/kg in mice. The highest dose tested was a maximum tolerated dose for both species as evidenced by clinical signs (rats and mice) and some mortality (mice) referable to central nervous system pharmacological effects, decreased weight gain (rats), and histopathological changes of phospholipidosis (rats) and hepatic fatty change (mice). There was no evidence of an increased incidence of any type of unusual or commonly occurring spontaneous neoplasm in either rats or mice. There were statistically significant decreases in a few commonly occurring neoplasms. The data reported herein provide convincing evidence that fluoxetine is neither a complete carcinogen nor a tumor promoter.