New depression treatment relieves sleep problems in patients
pharmafile | April 12, 2005 | News story | Sales and Marketing |Â Â Â
An innovative new depression drug has shown improved benefits over existing treatments, according to data presented by its manufacturer Servier.
Valdoxan (agomelatine) is the first melatonergic agonist antidepressant, a new class of drug for the treatment of depression.
The once-daily tablet has a unique mode of action and works by acting on circadian rhythms, which are often imbalanced in depressed patients.
New data, presented at the 13th Congress of the Association of European Psychiatrists, showed the drug to be effective in improving disrupted sleep patterns of depressed patients without affecting daytime vigilance.
"Agomelatine is an interesting and potentially very valuable antidepressant that is effective in both moderate and severe depression," commented Professor Stuart Montgomery, Imperial College School of Medicine in London.
"The new agent has a unique mode of action, improves sleep without affecting daytime alertness and its efficacy is not compromised by sexual side-effects, tolerability problems or discontinuation symptoms.
The data was the result of an eight week placebo-controlled trial which showed Valdoxan to be an effective antidepressant at a dose of 25mg.
Further results showed the treatment had a similar efficacy to Wyeth's Efexor (venlafaxine), with patients taking Valdoxan showing significantly less sexual dysfunction than those taking Wyeth's drug.
Valdoxan was recently submitted to the EMEA for approval with additional phase III trials now in progress.
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