Lundbeck antidepressant records medical breakthrough

Denmark’s Lundbeck and its Japanese partner Takeda has seen its experimental antidepressant Brintellix record a successful clinical trial.

Studies showed that the drug carried benefits over agomelatine, with industry expects claiming that the drug could now have sales potential of more than $1.5 billion (£900,000), reports Reuters.

It is believed that the solution could even reach sales of up to $3 billion a year, though Thomson Reuters Pharma has put its 2016 forecasts at $500 million.

The research indicated that, after four weeks of treatment, Brintellix proved significantly more effective than agomelatine, which is sold as Valdoxan by Servier.

At the moment, the main antidepressants on the market are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, with many of these available as cheap generics.

Reuters has reported Lundbeck R&D head Anders Gersel Pedersen as saying: “This latest study clearly demonstrates that patients who have not had an adequate response on SSRIs or SNRIs can be switched to Brintellix and get a treatment effect - which is the relevant question for physicians.”

Agomelatine was originally approved for the European market in 2009, though it is not sold in the US.

Lundbeck is aiming for the new antidepressant to provide a new source of revenue because its existing drug comes off patent protection.

This news comes after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved ABILIFY MAINTENA as a treatment for schizophrenia.

The drug was developed as part of the long term global alliance between Otsuka and Lundbeck, which aims to produce CNS medicines across the globe.

It is the first dopamine D2 partial agonist approved as a once-monthly injection and offers a new treatment option to meet the continual need for relapse prevention in patients with schizophrenia.

Efficacy was shown in a 52-week, placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomised-withrdawal, with the time to relapse determined as the primary endpoint.