*** Welcome to piglix ***

Venlafaxin

Venlafaxine
Venlafaxine structure.svg
Venlafaxine-3D-balls.png
Clinical data
Trade names Effexor, many generics
AHFS/Drugs.com Monograph
License data
Pregnancy
category
  • AU: B2
  • US: C (Risk not ruled out)
Routes of
administration
by mouth
ATC code
Legal status
Legal status
Pharmacokinetic data
Bioavailability 42±15%
Protein binding 27±2% (parent compound), 30±12% (active metabolite, desvenlafaxine)
Metabolism Hepatic (~50% of the parent compound is metabolised on first pass through the liver)
Biological half-life 5±2 h (parent compound for immediate release preparations), 15±6 h (parent compound for extended release preparations), 11±2 h (active metabolite)
Excretion Renal (87%; 5% as unchanged drug; 29% as desvenlafaxine and 53% as other metabolites)
Identifiers
CAS Number
PubChem CID
DrugBank
ChemSpider
UNII
ChEBI
ChEMBL
ECHA InfoCard 100.122.418
Chemical and physical data
Formula C17H27NO2
Molar mass 277.402 g/mol
3D model (JSmol)
Chirality Racemic mixture
  

Venlafaxine, sold under the brand name Effexor among others, is an antidepressant of the serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI) class. This means it increases the concentrations of the neurotransmitters serotonin and norepinephrine in the body and the brain. First introduced by Wyeth in 1993, now marketed by Pfizer, it is licensed for the treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD), generalised anxiety disorder (GAD), panic disorder and social phobia.

A comparative meta-analysis of 12 major antidepressants found that venlafaxine, mirtazapine, escitalopram, and sertraline were significantly more efficacious than duloxetine, fluoxetine, fluvoxamine, paroxetine, and reboxetine. A combination of venlafaxine and mirtazapine achieved remission rates (defined as a HAM-D score of 7 or less) of 58% in one controlled trial. In combination with an antipsychotic medicine aripiprazole, better results in treatment resistant depression in older adults have been demonstrated.

The rate of life-threatening or lethal outcomes for suicidal overdoses of venlafaxine is lower than for the TCAs, MAOIs, and bupropion but higher than all of the SSRIs, and equal to citalopram. It is metabolised in the body into another antidepressant drug called desvenlafaxine (O-desmethylvenlafaxine) which is also sold as an antidepressant, under the brand name Pristiq.


...
Wikipedia

...