Published Paper Details:

Depression is the one of the largest reason of non-fatal health loss worldwide. Second-generation antidepressant drugs are the first-line therapy for pharmacological management of depression. Improvement in the use of these drugs is significant in lowering the burden of depression. Venlafaxine is a unique antidepressant drug including a wide range of antidepressant activity and a safety profile that are corresponding to serotonin selective reuptake inhibitors. Venlafaxine (VEN) is an antidepressant agent which is widely used as an alternative to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), particularly for the treatment of SSRI-resistant depression.Venlafaxine inhibits presynaptic reuptake of serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine; 5-HT) and noradrenaline (norepinephrine). As the co-administration of antidepressant drugs with other medications is very common in clinical practice, the potential risk for pharmacokinetic and/or pharmacodynamic drug interactions that may be clinically meaningful increases. Bearing in mind that VEN has exhibited large variability in antidepressant response, besides the individual genetic background, several other factors may contribute to those variable clinical outcomes, such as the occurrence of significant drug-drug interactions. Indeed, the presence of drug interactions is possibly one of the major reasons for interindividual variability, and their anticipation should be considered in conjugation with other specific patients' characteristics to optimize the antidepressant therapy. Hence, a comprehensive overview of the pharmacokinetic- and pharmacodynamic-based drug interactions involving VEN is herein provided, particularly addressing their clinical relevance.