Takeda and Lundbeck's antidepressant renamed in US
Takeda and Lundbeck's Brintellix (vortioxetine) antidepressant has been renamed in the US to avoid confusion with AstraZeneca's anti-blood clotting drug, Brilinta (ticagrelor).
It is a fresh blow for the drug now known as Trintellix, which the FDA rejected earlier this year in the extended use of foggy thinking in major depressive order.
In its first year on the market in 2014, sales were around $28.4 million, only 10% of earlier predictions.
After reports of confusion between the two drugs, Takeda and Lundbeck worked with the US Food and Drug Administration and decided to change the drug's brand name to Trintellix (vortioxetine).
The formulation, indication and dosage of Trintellix, approved to treat major depressive disorder in adults, remain the same as that of Brintellix.
In a joint statement the companies said that the original name had been fully screened before launch, but quickly took action once they learned of the potential for confusion.
The newly named drug will be available from June, and until then healthcare providers can still prescribe the product under its current brand name.
Takeda did not say in the statement whether it planned to change the drug's name in Europe.
This is not the first time that Takeda has had to change the name of one of its drugs. In 2010, it changed the name of its heartburn drug Kapidex (dexlansoprazole) to Dexilant, to avoid confusion with two other medicines – AstraZeneca's cancer drug Casodex (bicalutamide) and Actavis's painkiller Kadian (morphine).
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