Aim: The antidepressant venlafaxine (VEN) is metabolized by CYP2D6 and CYP2C19. The aim of this study was to assess the relevance of generalizing to daily practice the genotyping of CYP2D6 and CYP2C19 to predict VEN efficacy in depressed patients treated in psychiatric settings.
Patients & methods: This study was nested in a naturalistic cohort, with 206 patients requiring a new antidepressant treatment and genotyped for CYP2D6 *3, *4, *5 del, *6, *2xN, *10, *41 and CYP2C19 *2, *3, *4, *5, *17 alleles.
Results: CYP2D6 and CYP2C19 phenotypes were associated neither with the Hamilton depression rating scale score improvement, nor with response and remission.
Conclusion: Routine CYP2D6 and CYP2C19 genotyping cannot be recommended to predict VEN efficacy in depressed patients treated in psychiatry settings.
Keywords: antidepressants; pharmacogenetics; venlafaxine.