Wyeth's anti-depression drug produces favourable phase 3 results
Wyeth Pharmaceuticals has presented phase 3 data showing desvenlafaxine succinate significantly improved depressive symptoms in adult patients compared to placebo.
Wyeth Pharmaceuticals has presented phase 3 data showing desvenlafaxine succinate significantly improved depressive symptoms in adult patients compared to placebo.
In a separate study, designed to look at the safety of the drug by investigating QTc prolongation, desvenlafaxine succinate 200 mg and 600 mg doses did not affect the QT interval at the study's primary end-point at eight hours post dose in healthy adult female subjects.
A substantial number of patients with depression do not respond to current antidepressant treatments, so new treatments are continually being developed. Wyeth Research, which discovered and developed desvenlafaxine succinate, submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for desvenlafaxine succinate for the treatment of MDD in December 2005.
Depression affects approximately 121m people worldwide and is the fourth leading cause of disability and premature death. The World Health Organization projects that, by the year 2020, depressive disorders will become the second-leading cause of disability worldwide.