Paroxetine (Page 6 of 7)

13 ​NONCLINICAL TOXICOLOGY

13.1 ​Carcinogenesis, Mutagenesis, Impairment of Fertility

Carcinogenesis

Two-year carcinogenicity studies were conducted in rodents given paroxetine in the diet at 1, 5, and 25 mg/kg/day (mice) and 1, 5, and 20 mg/kg/day (rats). These doses are up to 2.0 (mouse) and 3.2 (rat) times the MRHD of 75 mg on a mg/m2 basis. There was a significantly greater number of male rats in the high-dose group with reticulum cell sarcomas (1/100, 0/50, 0/50, and 4/50 for control, low-, middle-, and high-dose groups, respectively) and a significantly increased linear trend across dose groups for the occurrence of lymphoreticular tumors in male rats. Female rats were not affected. Although there was a dose-related increase in the number of tumors in mice, there was no drug-related increase in the number of mice with tumors. The relevance of these findings to humans is unknown.

Mutagenesis

Paroxetine produced no genotoxic effects in a battery of 5 in vitro and 2 in vivo assays that included the following: Bacterial mutation assay, mouse lymphoma mutation assay, unscheduled DNA synthesis assay, and tests for cytogenetic aberrations in vivo in mouse bone marrow and in vitro in human lymphocytes and in a dominant lethal test in rats.

Impairment of Fertility

Some clinical studies have shown that SSRIs (including paroxetine) may affect sperm quality during SSRI treatment, which may affect fertility in some men.

A reduced pregnancy rate was found in reproduction studies in rats at a dose of paroxetine of 15 mg/kg/day, which is 2.4 times the MRHD of 75 mg on a mg/m2 basis. Irreversible lesions occurred in the reproductive tract of male rats after dosing in toxicity studies for 2 to 52 weeks. These lesions consisted of vacuolation of epididymal tubular epithelium at 50 mg/kg/day and atrophic changes in the seminiferous tubules of the testes with arrested spermatogenesis at 25 mg/kg/day (8.2 and 4.1 times the MRHD of 75 mg on a mg/m2 basis).

14 ​CLINICAL STUDIES

14.1 ​Major Depressive Disorder

The efficacy of paroxetine as a treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD) has been established in 6 placebo-controlled studies of patients with MDD (aged 18 to 73). In these studies, paroxetine was shown to be statistically significantly more effective than placebo in treating MDD by at least 2 of the following measures: Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS), the Hamilton depressed mood item, and the Clinical Global Impression (CGI)-Severity of Illness. Paroxetine was statistically significantly better than placebo in improvement of the HDRS sub-factor scores, including the depressed mood item, sleep disturbance factor, and anxiety factor.

Long-term efficacy of paroxetine for treatment of MDD in outpatients was demonstrated in a randomized withdrawal study. Patients who responded to paroxetine (HDRS total score <8) during an initial 8-week open-label treatment phase were then randomized to continue paroxetine or placebo, for up to 1 year. Patients treated with paroxetine demonstrated a statistically significant lower relapse rate during the withdrawal phase (15%) compared to those on placebo (39%). Effectiveness was similar for male and female patients.

14.2 Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

The effectiveness of paroxetine in the treatment of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) was demonstrated in two 12-week multicenter placebo-controlled studies of adult outpatients (Studies 1 and 2). Patients had moderate to severe OCD (DSM-IIIR) with mean baseline ratings on the Yale Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (YBOCS) total score ranging from 23 to 26. In study 1, a dose-range finding study, patients received fixed daily doses of paroxetine 20 mg, 40 mg, or 60 mg. Study 1 demonstrated that daily doses of paroxetine 40 mg and 60 mg are effective in the treatment of OCD. Patients receiving doses of paroxetine 40 mg and 60 mg experienced a mean reduction of approximately 6 and 7 points, respectively, on the YBOCS total score which was statistically significantly greater than the approximate 4-point reduction at 20 mg and a 3-point reduction in the placebo-treated patients. Study 2 was a flexible-dose study comparing paroxetine 20 mg to 60 mg daily with clomipramine 25 mg to 250 mg daily or placebo). In this study, patients receiving paroxetine experienced a mean reduction of approximately 7 points on the YBOCS total score, which was statistically significantly greater than the mean reduction of approximately 4 points in placebo-treated patients.

The following table provides the outcome classification by treatment group on Global Improvement items of the Clinical Global Impression (CGI) scale for Study 1

Table 10: Outcome Classification (%) on CGI-Global Improvement Item for Completers in Study 1 in Patients with OCD

Outcome Classification

Placebo (n = 74)

Paroxetine

20 mg

(n = 75)

Paroxetine

40 mg

(n = 66)

Paroxetine

60 mg

(n = 66)

Worse 14 7 7 3
No Change 44 35 22 19
Minimally Improved 24 33 29 34
Much Improved 11 18 22 24
Very Much Improved 7 7 20 20

Subgroup analyses did not indicate that there were any differences in treatment outcomes as a function of age or gender.

The long-term efficacy of paroxetine for the treatment of OCD was established in a long-term extension to Study 1. Patients who responded to paroxetine during the 3-month double-blind phase and a 6-month extension on open-label paroxetine 20 mg to 60 mg daily were randomized to either paroxetine or placebo in a 6-month double-blind relapse prevention phase. Patients randomized to paroxetine were statistically significantly less likely to relapse than placebo-treated patients.

14.3 Panic Disorder

The effectiveness of paroxetine in the treatment of panic disorder (PD) was demonstrated in three 10- to 12-week multicenter, placebo-controlled studies of adult outpatients (Studies 1, 2, and 3). Patients had PD (DSM-IIIR), with or without agoraphobia. In these studies, paroxetine was shown to be statistically significantly more effective than placebo in treating PD by at least 2 out of 3 measures of panic attack frequency and on the Clinical Global Impression Severity of Illness score.

Study 1 was a 10-week dose-range finding study; patients received fixed doses of paroxetine 10 mg, 20 mg, or 40 mg daily or placebo. A statistically significant difference from placebo was observed only for the paroxetine 40 mg daily group. At endpoint, 76% of patients receiving paroxetine 40 mg daily were free of panic attacks, compared to 44% of placebo-treated patients.

Study 2 was a 12-week flexible-dose study comparing paroxetine 10 mg to 60 mg daily and placebo. At endpoint, 51% of paroxetine -treated patients were free of panic attacks compared to 32% of placebo-treated patients.

Study 3 was a 12-week flexible-dose study comparing paroxetine 10 mg to 60 mg daily to placebo in patients concurrently receiving standardized cognitive behavioral therapy. At endpoint, 33% of the paroxetine — treated patients showed a reduction to 0 or 1 panic attacks compared to 14% of placebo-treated patients. In Studies 2 and 3, the mean paroxetine dose for completers at endpoint was approximately 40 mg daily.

Long-term efficacy of paroxetine in PD was demonstrated in an extension to Study 1. Patients who responded to paroxetine during the 10-week double-blind phase and during a 3-month double-blind extension phase were randomized to either paroxetine 10 mg, 20 mg, or 40 mg daily or placebo in a 3-month double-blind relapse prevention phase. Patients randomized to paroxetine were statistically significantly less likely to relapse than placebo-treated patients.

Subgroup analyses did not indicate that there were any differences in treatment outcomes as a function of age or gender.

14.4 Social Anxiety Disorder

The effectiveness of paroxetine in the treatment of social anxiety disorder (SAD) was demonstrated in three 12-week, multicenter, placebo-controlled studies (Studies 1, 2, and 3) of adult outpatients with SAD (DSM-IV). In these studies, the effectiveness of paroxetine compared to placebo was evaluated on the basis of (1) the proportion of responders, as defined by a Clinical Global Impression (CGI) Improvement score of 1 (very much improved) or 2 (much improved), and (2) change from baseline in the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS).

Studies 1 and 2 were flexible-dose studies comparing paroxetine 20 mg to 50 mg daily and placebo. Paroxetine demonstrated statistically significant superiority over placebo on both the CGI Improvement responder criterion and the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS). In Study 1, for patients who completed to week 12, 69% of paroxetine-treated patients compared to 29% of placebo-treated patients were CGI Improvement responders. In Study 2, CGI Improvement responders were 77% and 42% for the paroxetine — and placebo-treated patients, respectively.

Study 3 was a 12-week study comparing fixed doses of paroxetine 20 mg, 40 mg, or 60 mg daily with placebo. Paroxetine 20 mg was statistically significantly superior to placebo on both the LSAS Total Score and the CGI Improvement responder criterion; there were trends for superiority over placebo for the paroxetine 40 mg and 60 mg daily dose groups. There was no indication in this study of any additional benefit for doses higher than 20 mg daily.

Subgroup analyses generally did not indicate differences in treatment outcomes as a function of age, race, or gender.

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