Vortioxetine effective for treatment of major depressive disorders finds study

In a new study published in Frontiers in Psychiatry, it was shown that vortioxetine is more effective in treating Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) in adults, although there is no discernible difference between it and serotonin noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) and serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) as a whole.

Major depressive disorder is characterized by poor self-esteem, low energy, lack of enjoyment, and a gloomy mood. The FDA granted vortioxetine its first license to treat MDD in adults in 2013. It is a novel antidepressant with multimodal activities and differs from other available treatments in terms of its pharmacological profile by both directly modulating 5-HT receptors and inhibiting the serotonin transporter. Xinyan Zhang and colleagues carried out this study in order to compare the effectiveness, acceptability, and tolerability of vortioxetine in the treatment of major depressive disorder in adults.

Using the keywords Vortioxetine, Trintellix, Brintellix, LuAA21004, mood disorder, major depressive disorder, affective disorder, and MDD, researchers searched Embase, PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Clinical Trials (CENTRAL), and www.ClinicalTrials.gov for randomized controlled trials that compared vortioxetine to placebo or other antidepressants for the treatment of MDD from database in After deleting duplicates, 789 publications in total were identified. 20 appropriate randomized controlled trials were found after screening, and 19 of them were used in the final meta-analysis. Adults (18 years of age and older) with MDD as their major diagnosis were included.

The key findings of this study were as follow:

1. The criteria were satisfied by 20 studies (8,547 people) in total.

2. In terms of effectiveness outcomes, such as response, remission, and cognitive function, vortioxetine performed better than the placebo.

3. Vortioxetine exhibited superior tolerability when compared to serotonin noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors, but there was no appreciable difference in response or remission.

4. Comparing vortioxetine to selective serotonin reuptake medications, there was no difference in response or remission.

In conclusion, according to the study's findings, vortioxetine has a considerable advantage over a placebo in terms of effectiveness, tolerability, and cognitive function while treating MDD in adults. In addition, Vortioxetine, which may be comparably effective but has advantages over the SNRIs in terms of tolerance, was not statistically significantly different from SNRIs and SSRIs in terms of efficacy. The function of vortioxetine in the treatment of depression requires more research, especially head-to-head comparisons with SNRIs and SSRIs, to augment and confirm the efficacy of the drug.

Reference:

Zhang, X., Cai, Y., Hu, X., Lu, C. Y., Nie, X., & Shi, L. (2022). Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Vortioxetine for the Treatment of Major Depressive Disorder in Adults. In Frontiers in Psychiatry (Vol. 13). Frontiers Media SA. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.922648