Copyright
©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Levomilnacipran and vortioxetine: Review of new pharmacotherapies for major depressive disorder
Mei T Liu, Megan E Maroney, Evelyn R Hermes-DeSantis, Department of Pharmacy Practice and Administration, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ 08854, United States
Author contributions: Liu MT, Maroney ME, Hermes-DeSantis ER all contributed to this paper.
Conflict-of-interest: The authors have nothing to declare.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Mei T Liu, PharmD, BCPP, Department of Pharmacy Practice and Administration, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, 160 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854, United States. mei_liu@pharmacy.rutgers.edu
Telephone: +1-848-4456487 Fax: +1-732-4452533
Received: July 9, 2014
Peer-review started: July 9, 2014
First decision: August 14, 2014
Revised: January 6, 2015
Accepted: January 18, 2015
Article in press: January 20, 2015
Published online: March 9, 2015
Peer-review started: July 9, 2014
First decision: August 14, 2014
Revised: January 6, 2015
Accepted: January 18, 2015
Article in press: January 20, 2015
Published online: March 9, 2015
Core Tip
Core tip: Levomilnacipran and vortioxetine are the two newest antidepressant medications to join the armamentarium of treatment choices for major depressive disorder. Levomilnacipran, a serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, is an enantiomer of the previously approved fibromyalgia agent milnacipran. Vortioxetine is a multimodal antidepressant with a unique mechanism of action, affecting several serotonin receptors as well as inhibiting serotonin reuptake. This review summarizes the clinical trial data as well as pharmacokinetic, dosing and safety concerns with these two new agents.