Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, a division of Wyeth, announced that Pristiq (desvenlafaxine), a new serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI) approved to treat adult patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), is now available in US retail pharmacies nationwide. The recommended dose of Pristiq is 50 milligrams (mg) once daily. The company begins full-scale selling and educational efforts regarding Pristiq for physicians this week.

"We are proud to make Pristiq available as a new treatment option for the millions of American adults who struggle with depression," comments Philip Ninan, M.D., vice president, Wyeth Medical Affairs, Neuroscience. "The recommended therapeutic dose of Pristiq is 50 mg once daily. Titration is not required to reach the recommended therapeutic dose." Dosage adjustment (50 mg every other day) is necessary, however, in patients with severe renal impairment or end-stage renal disease.

Pristiq, an SNRI approved by the US Food and Drug Administration on February 29, 2008, is an important new treatment option for the millions of adults in the United States who have MDD. Discovered and developed by Wyeth, Pristiq demonstrates the company's significant and continued commitment to developing new therapies in the field of neuroscience.

At the recommended dose of 50 mg, the discontinuation rate due to an adverse experience for Pristiq (4.1 per cent) was similar to the rate for placebo (3.8 per cent) in clinical studies. The most commonly observed adverse reactions in patients taking Pristiq for MDD in short-term, fixed-dose studies (incidence > 5 per cent and at least twice the rate of placebo in the 50 mg dose groups) were nausea, dizziness, hyperhidrosis, constipation and decreased appetite.

Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, a division of Wyeth, has leading products in the areas of women's health care, infectious disease, gastrointestinal health, central nervous system, inflammation, transplantation, haemophilia, oncology, vaccines and nutritional products.