Efficacy and Safety Study of Vortioxetine (Lu AA21004) in Adults With Major Depressive Disorder

A Phase 3, Randomized, Double-Blind, Parallel-Group, Placebo-Controlled, Fixed-Dose Study Comparing the Efficacy and Safety of 2 Doses (10 and 20 mg) of Lu AA21004 in Acute Treatment of Adults With Major Depressive Disorder

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of vortioxetine, once daily (QD), compared with placebo in adults with major depressive disorder.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Depressive Disorder, Major
• Intervention / Treatment: Drug: Placebo; Drug: Vortioxetine

Detailed Description

The drug that was tested in this study is called Vortioxetine. Vortioxetine is being tested to treat depression in adults who have major depressive disorder (MDD). This study looked at MDD relief in people who took varying dosages of vortioxetine.

The study enrolled 462 patients. Participants were randomly assigned (by chance, like flipping a coin) to one of the three treatment groups-which remained undisclosed to the patient and study doctor during the study (unless there was an urgent medical need):

• Vortioxetine 10 mg
• Vortioxetine 20 mg
• Placebo (dummy inactive capsule) - this was a capsule that looked like the study drug but had no active ingredient.

All participants were asked to take one capsule at the same time each day throughout the study.

This multi-center trial was conducted in the United States. The overall time to participate in this study was up to 13 weeks. Participants made 9 visits to the clinic, and were contacted by telephone 4 weeks after the last dose of study drug for a follow-up assessment.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 462
• Phase: Phase 3

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • California
    • Anaheim, California, United States
    • Cerritos, California, United States
    • Costa Mesa, California, United States
    • Encino, California, United States
    • Garden Grove, California, United States
    • Irvine, California, United States
    • Pico Rivera, California, United States
    • Riverside, California, United States
  • Colorado
    • Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States
  • Connecticut
    • Norwich, Connecticut, United States
  • Florida
    • Maitland, Florida, United States
    • North Miami, Florida, United States
    • Orange City, Florida, United States
    • Orlando, Florida, United States
    • St. Petersburg, Florida, United States
  • Georgia
    • Smyrna, Georgia, United States
  • Illinois
    • Chicago, Illinois, United States
    • Joliet, Illinois, United States
    • Skokie, Illinois, United States
  • Kansas
    • Wichita, Kansas, United States
  • Louisiana
    • Lake Charles, Louisiana, United States
  • Massachusetts
    • Worcester, Massachusetts, United States
  • Missouri
    • St. Charles, Missouri, United States
    • St. Louis, Missouri, United States
  • New Jersey
    • Willingboro, New Jersey, United States
  • New York
    • Buffalo, New York, United States
    • New York, New York, United States
    • Rochester, New York, United States
  • Ohio
    • Cinti, Ohio, United States
    • Dayton, Ohio, United States
    • Middleburg Heights, Ohio, United States
  • Oregon
    • Portland, Oregon, United States
  • Pennsylvania
    • Norristown, Pennsylvania, United States
    • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
  • South Carolina
    • Charleston, South Carolina, United States
  • Texas
    • Irving, Texas, United States
  • Virginia
    • Richmond, Virginia, United States
  • Washington
    • Seattle, Washington, United States
  • Wisconsin
    • Brown Deer, Wisconsin, United States

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 75 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Suffers from a major depressive episode recurrent as the primary diagnosis according to the American Psychiatric Association Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR) criteria.
• Has a Montgomery Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) total score of 26 or greater at Screening and Baseline Visits.
• Has a Clinical Global Impression - Severity of Illness (CGI-S) score of 4 or greater at Screening and Baseline Visits.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Has previously participated in a Lu AA21004 clinical study.

• Has 1 or more the following:

  • Any current psychiatric disorder other than Major Depressive Disorder as defined in the DSM-IV
  • Current or past history of: manic or hypomanic episode, schizophrenia or any other psychotic disorder defined in the DSM-IV-TR.
  • Diagnosis of alcohol or other substance disorder (except nicotine and caffeine) as defined in the DSM-IV-TR that has not been in sustained full remission for at least years prior to screening (participant must also have negative urine drug screen prior to Baseline).
  • Presence or history of a clinically significant neurological disorder (including epilepsy)
  • Neurodegenerative disorder.
  • Any Axis II disorder that might compromise the study.
• Has a thyroid stimulating hormone value outside the normal range at the Screening Visit that is deemed clinically significant by the investigator.
• Has clinically significant abnormal vital signs as determined by the investigator.
• Has an abnormal Electrocardiogram.
• Has an alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase or total bilirubin level greater than 1.5 times the upper limits of normal.
• Has a previous history of cancer that had been in remission for less than 5 years prior to the first dose of study medication.
• Has a disease or takes medication that, in the opinion of the investigator, could interfere with the assessments of safety, tolerability, or efficacy.
• Has a known history of or currently has increased intraocular pressure or is at risk of acute narrow-angle glaucoma.
• Has a clinically significant unstable illness, for example, hepatic impairment or renal insufficiency, or a cardiovascular, pulmonary, gastrointestinal, endocrine, neurological, rheumatologic, immunologic, infectious, skin and subcutaneous tissue disorders, or metabolic disturbance. For the purposes of this protocol the following conditions are considered unstable due to the potential impact on assessment of MDD response: pain disorder, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, and obstructive sleep apnea.
• Has a significant risk of suicide according to the investigator's opinion.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Quadruple

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Placebo Comparator: Placebo; Placebo-matching capsules, orally, once daily for up to 8 weeks.	Drug: Placebo; Vortioxetine placebo-matching capsules
Experimental: Vortioxetine 10 mg; Vortioxetine 10 mg, encapsulated tablets, orally, once daily for up to 8 weeks.	Drug: Vortioxetine; Encapsulated vortioxetine immediate release tablets; Other Names: Lu AA21004; Brintellix®
Experimental: Vortioxetine 20 mg; Vortioxetine 10 mg, encapsulated tablets, orally, once daily for one week then vortioxetine 20 mg, encapsulated tablets, orally, once daily for up to 7 weeks.	Drug: Vortioxetine; Encapsulated vortioxetine immediate release tablets; Other Names: Lu AA21004; Brintellix®

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change From Baseline in Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) Total Score	The MADRS is a depression rating scale consisting of 10 items, each rated 0 (normal) to 6 (most abnormal). The 10 items represent the core symptoms of depressive illness. The overall score ranges from 0 (symptoms absent) to 60 (severe depression). A decrease in the total score or on individual items indicates improvement. Least squares (LS) means are from a mixed model for repeated measurements (MMRM) analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) with treatment, center, week, treatment-by-week interaction, Baseline MADRS total score-by-week as fixed effects.	Baseline and Week 8

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Percentage of Participants in MADRS Remission at Week 8	Remission is defined as a participant with a Montgomery Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) total score ≤10. The MADRS is a depression rating scale consisting of 10 items, each rated 0 to 6. The 10 items represent the core symptoms of depressive illness. The overall score ranges from 0 (symptoms absent) to 60 (severe depression). Decrease in the total score or on individual items indicates improvement.	Week 8
Percentage of Participants With a MADRS Response at Week 8	Response is defined as a participant with a ≥50% decrease in Montgomery Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) total score from Baseline. The MADRS is a depression rating scale consisting of 10 items, each rated 0 to 6. The 10 items represent the core symptoms of depressive illness. The overall score ranges from 0 (symptoms absent) to 60 (severe depression). Decrease in the total score or on individual items indicates improvement.	Baseline and Week 8
Change From Baseline in Sheehan Disability Scale (SDS) Total Score at Week 8	The Sheehan Disability Scale assesses functional impairment in 3 domains: work/school, social life or leisure activities, and home life or family responsibilities. The participant rates the extent to which each aspect is impaired on a 10-point visual analog scale, from 0 (not at all) to 10 (extremely). The 3 scores are added together to calculate the total score, which ranges from 0 to 30, with higher scores indicating more impairment. LS means were from mixed model for repeated measurements (MMRM) ANCOVA with treatment, center, week, treatment-by-week interaction, Baseline SDS total score-by-week as fixed effects.	Baseline and Week 8
Mean Clinical Global Impression Scale-Improvement (CGI-I) Score at Week 8	The Clinical Global Impression-Global Improvement scale assesses the participant's improvement (or worsening) as assessed by the clinician relative to Baseline on a 7-point scale: 1, very much improved; 2, much improved; 3, minimally improved; 4, no change; 5, minimally worse; 6, much worse; or 7, very much worse. LS means were from a mixed model for repeated measurements (MMRM) ANCOVA with treatment, center, week, treatment-by-week interaction, Baseline Clinical Global Impression Scale-Severity of Illness Scale (CGI-S) score-by-week as fixed effects.	Week 8
Change From Baseline in MADRS Total Score at Week 8 in Participants With Baseline Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAM-A) Total Score ≥20	The MADRS is a depression rating scale consisting of 10 items, each rated 0 (normal) to 6 (most abnormal). The 10 items represent the core symptoms of depressive illness. The overall score ranges from 0 (symptoms absent) to 60 (severe depression). A decrease in the total score or on individual items indicates improvement. LS means are from a mixed model for repeated measurements (MMRM) ANCOVA with treatment, center, week, treatment-by-week interaction, Baseline MADRS total score-by-week as fixed effects. The HAM-A is a 14 item rating scale to quantify anxiety severity rated on a 5-point scale from 0 (not present) to 4 (severe) with a total score range from 0 to 56, where lower scores indicate mild severity.	Baseline and Week 8

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Takeda

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Christensen MC, Florea I, Loft H, McIntyre RS. Efficacy of vortioxetine in patients with major depressive disorder reporting childhood or recent trauma. J Affect Disord. 2020 Feb 15;263:258-266. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2019.11.074. Epub 2019 Nov 13.
• Jacobsen PL, Mahableshwarkar AR, Serenko M, Chan S, Trivedi MH. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of the efficacy and safety of vortioxetine 10 mg and 20 mg in adults with major depressive disorder. J Clin Psychiatry. 2015 May;76(5):575-82. doi: 10.4088/JCP.14m09335.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: July 1, 2010
• Primary Completion (Actual): January 1, 2012
• Study Completion (Actual): January 1, 2012

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 14, 2010
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 14, 2010
• First Posted (Estimate): July 15, 2010

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): December 18, 2013
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 25, 2013
• Last Verified: October 1, 2013

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Depression; Drug Therapy; Major Depressive Disorder; Melancholia
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavioral Symptoms; Mental Disorders; Pathologic Processes; Mood Disorders; Depression; Depressive Disorder; Disease; Depressive Disorder, Major; Physiological Effects of Drugs; Neurotransmitter Agents; Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action; Central Nervous System Depressants; Tranquilizing Agents; Psychotropic Drugs; Serotonin Uptake Inhibitors; Neurotransmitter Uptake Inhibitors; Membrane Transport Modulators; Serotonin Agents; Antidepressive Agents; Serotonin 5-HT1 Receptor Agonists; Serotonin Receptor Agonists; Serotonin Antagonists; Anti-Anxiety Agents; Serotonin 5-HT3 Receptor Antagonists; Vortioxetine
• Other Study ID Numbers: LuAA21004_316; U1111-1115-8770 (Registry Identifier: WHO)