3 August 2015 -  Vortioxetine hydrobromide (Brintellix) has been approved since December 2013 for the treatment of depression in adults, but did not become actually available before May 2015. The German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) examined in a dossier assessment whether this drug offers an added benefit over the appropriate comparator therapy. Such an added benefit cannot be derived from the dossier because it contained no data evaluable for the assessment.

The Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) distinguished between three patient groups depending on the severity of the disease and specified a different appropriate comparator therapy for each of them: no drug treatment for mild episodes of depression, an anti-depressant from the group of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) for moderate episodes and a combination of an SSRI and an offer of psychotherapy for severe episodes. In addition, differentiation between acute treatment and relapse prevention can be inferred from the Summary of Product Characteristics.

For more details,, go to: https://www.iqwig.de/en/press/press-releases/press-releases/vortioxetine-in-depression-no-hint-of-added-benefit.6800.html