PMID- 24611442 OWN - NLM STAT- MEDLINE DCOM- 20150112 LR - 20211021 IS - 1557-8992 (Electronic) IS - 1044-5463 (Print) IS - 1044-5463 (Linking) VI - 24 IP - 4 DP - 2014 May TI - Safety and tolerability of desvenlafaxine in children and adolescents with major depressive disorder. PG - 201-9 LID - 10.1089/cap.2012.0126 [doi] AB - OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to assess long-term safety and tolerability of desvenlafaxine (administered as desvenlafaxine succinate) in children and adolescents with major depressive disorder (MDD). METHODS: An 8 week, multicenter, open-label, fixed-dose study of children (ages 7-11 years) and adolescents (ages 12-17 years) with MDD was followed by a 6 month, flexible-dose extension study. Patients were administered desvenlafaxine 10-100 mg/day (children) or 25-200 mg/day (adolescents) for a total of 8 months. Treatment-emergent adverse events (AEs), withdrawals because of AEs, laboratory tests, vital signs, and the Columbia Suicide-Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS) were collected. Eight month safety results from the lead-in plus extension studies are reported for extension study participants, using lead-in study day -1 as baseline. RESULTS: Forty patients were enrolled in both studies (20 children; 20 adolescents). Of those, four children and three adolescents withdrew because of AEs. Treatment-emergent AEs reported by three or more patients were upper abdominal pain (15%) and headache (15%) in children, and somnolence (30%), nausea (20%), upper abdominal pain (15%), and headache (15%) in adolescents. Negativism (oppositional behavior) in a child was the single serious AE reported. No deaths occurred during the lead-in or extension studies. Mean pulse rates demonstrated statistically significant increases from lead-in study baseline to final evaluation (children, +5.2 bpm; adolescents, +5.9 bpm; p