Pharmacokinetic drug interactions involving vortioxetine (Lu AA21004), a multimodal antidepressant.

Background And Objective: The identification and quantification of potential drug-drug interactions is important for avoiding or minimizing the interaction-induced adverse events associated with specific drug combinations. Clinical studies in healthy subjects were performed to evaluate potential pharmacokinetic interactions between vortioxetine (Lu AA21004) and co-administered agents, including fluconazole (cytochrome P450 [CYP] 2C9, CYP2C19 and CYP3A inhibitor), ketoconazole (CYP3A and P-glycoprotein inhibitor), rifampicin (CYP inducer), bupropion (CYP2D6 inhibitor and CYP2B6 substrate), ethinyl estradiol/levonorgestrel (CYP3A substrates) and omeprazole (CYP2C19 substrate and inhibitor).

Methods: The ratio of central values of the test treatment to the reference treatment for relevant parameters (e.g., area under the plasma concentration-time curve [AUC] and maximum plasma concentration [C max]) was used to assess pharmacokinetic interactions.

Results: Co-administration of vortioxetine had no effect on the AUC or C max of ethinyl estradiol/levonorgestrel or 5'-hydroxyomeprazole, or the AUC of bupropion; the 90 % confidence intervals for these ratios of central values were within 80-125 %. Steady-state AUC and C max of vortioxetine increased when co-administered with bupropion (128 and 114 %, respectively), fluconazole (46 and 15 %, respectively) and ketoconazole (30 and 26 %, respectively), and decreased by 72 and 51 %, respectively, when vortioxetine was co-administered with rifampicin. Concomitant therapy was generally well tolerated; most adverse events were mild or moderate in intensity.

Conclusion: Dosage adjustment may be required when vortioxetine is co-administered with bupropion or rifampicin.