▼ Vortioxetine for acute depression in adults

Vortioxetine is from a new class of psychotropic drugs, the bis-aryl-sulfanyl amines, that acts on the serotonin system.¹ It is licensed for the treatment of major depression in adults and the Summary of Product Characteristics includes details of its impact on depression rating scales, as well as its effect on some measures of cognitive function in patients with depression.² A Cochrane review has assessed the efficacy and acceptability of vortioxetine compared with placebo and other antidepressant drugs in the treatment of acute depression in adults.³

The review included 15 randomised controlled trials (7,746 participants); seven studies were placebo controlled and eight studies compared vortioxetine with serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs).³ The reviewers found no studies comparing …