The use of antidepressants in clinical practice: focus on agomelatine
The use of antidepressants in clinical practice: focus on agomelatine
Objective: agomelatine (Valdoxan®) is licensed by the European Medicines Agency for the treatment of major depressive episodes in adults. The objective of this review was to consider how the drug should be used in clinical practice in particular starting, stopping and switching to and from the drug.
Methods: the existing clinical evidence was reviewed.
Results: data suggest that when switching to agomelatine from other antidepressants consideration should be given to tapering the previous antidepressant in order to minimize the risk of the original drug causing discontinuation/withdrawal symptoms. The risk of pharmacological interactions between most antidepressants and agomelatine is low and so tapering the previous antidepressant can usually be done after agomelatine has been started. An exception is fluvoxamine which should not be concurrently prescribed with agomelatine. As agomelatine appears to cause no significant discontinuation symptoms, it can probably be stopped abruptly when treatment is completed or when switching to another antidepressant.
Conclusions: while this guidance may change as clinical evidence and experience grows, currently agomelatine appears to have a good tolerability profile and is relatively easy to use, though prescribers should note the requirement to conduct liver function tests (LFTs) in accordance with the Summary of Product Characteristics (SPC).
agomelatine, antidepressants, depression, starting, switching, stopping
95-102
McAllister-Williams, R.H.
0896e208-e02f-4f99-a6d3-3dc03f96d4a3
Baldwin, D.S.
1beaa192-0ef1-4914-897a-3a49fc2ed15e
Haddad, P.M.
e15fee9b-aa64-4fc8-b623-48ee9718fe46
Bazire, S.
f077e352-d220-47c9-8588-4b0ec891af0f
March 2010
McAllister-Williams, R.H.
0896e208-e02f-4f99-a6d3-3dc03f96d4a3
Baldwin, D.S.
1beaa192-0ef1-4914-897a-3a49fc2ed15e
Haddad, P.M.
e15fee9b-aa64-4fc8-b623-48ee9718fe46
Bazire, S.
f077e352-d220-47c9-8588-4b0ec891af0f
McAllister-Williams, R.H., Baldwin, D.S., Haddad, P.M. and Bazire, S.
(2010)
The use of antidepressants in clinical practice: focus on agomelatine.
Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental, 25 (2), .
(doi:10.1002/hup.1094).
Abstract
Objective: agomelatine (Valdoxan®) is licensed by the European Medicines Agency for the treatment of major depressive episodes in adults. The objective of this review was to consider how the drug should be used in clinical practice in particular starting, stopping and switching to and from the drug.
Methods: the existing clinical evidence was reviewed.
Results: data suggest that when switching to agomelatine from other antidepressants consideration should be given to tapering the previous antidepressant in order to minimize the risk of the original drug causing discontinuation/withdrawal symptoms. The risk of pharmacological interactions between most antidepressants and agomelatine is low and so tapering the previous antidepressant can usually be done after agomelatine has been started. An exception is fluvoxamine which should not be concurrently prescribed with agomelatine. As agomelatine appears to cause no significant discontinuation symptoms, it can probably be stopped abruptly when treatment is completed or when switching to another antidepressant.
Conclusions: while this guidance may change as clinical evidence and experience grows, currently agomelatine appears to have a good tolerability profile and is relatively easy to use, though prescribers should note the requirement to conduct liver function tests (LFTs) in accordance with the Summary of Product Characteristics (SPC).
This record has no associated files available for download.
More information
Published date: March 2010
Keywords:
agomelatine, antidepressants, depression, starting, switching, stopping
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 148129
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/148129
ISSN: 0885-6222
PURE UUID: 7b2f5d5d-0d03-4f42-ae91-d75a07866ae4
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 27 Apr 2010 11:24
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 02:38
Export record
Altmetrics
Contributors
Author:
R.H. McAllister-Williams
Author:
P.M. Haddad
Author:
S. Bazire
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics