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Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of orvepitant (10 or 30 mg given once daily, orally for 4 weeks), a neurokinin-1 receptor antagonist, compared with placebo in reducing the intensity of epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitor (EGFRI)-induced intense pruritus., Design: Randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial., Setting: 15 hospitals in Italy and five hospitals in the UK., Participants: 44 patients aged ≥18 years receiving an EGFRI for a histologically confirmed malignant solid tumour and experiencing moderate or intense pruritus after EGFRI treatment., Intervention: 30 or 10 mg orvepitant or placebo tablets once daily for 4 weeks (randomised 1:1:1)., Primary and Secondary Outcome Measures: The primary endpoint was change from baseline in mean patient-recorded numerical rating scale (NRS) score (over the last three recordings) at week 4. Secondary outcome measures were NRS score, verbal rating scale score, Skindex-16 and Leeds Sleep Evaluation Questionnaire at each study visit (baseline, weeks 1, 4, 8); rescue medication use; EGFRI dose reduction; and study withdrawal because of intense uncontrolled pruritus., Results: The trial was terminated early because of recruitment challenges; only 44 of the planned 90 patients were randomised. All patients were analysed for efficacy and safety. Mean NRS score change from baseline to week 4 was -2.78 (SD: 2.64) points in the 30 mg group, -3.04 (SD: 3.06) points in the 10 mg group and -3.21 (SD: 1.77) points in the placebo group; the difference between orvepitant and placebo was not statistically significant. No safety signal was detected. Adverse events related to orvepitant (asthenia, dizziness, dry mouth, hyperhidrosis) were all of mild or moderate severity., Conclusions: Orvepitant was safe and well tolerated. No difference in NRS score between the orvepitant and placebo groups was observed at the week 4 primary endpoint. A number of explanations for this outcome are possible., Trial Registration Number: EudraCT2013-002763-25., Competing Interests: Competing interests: MT is a current employee and ER is a past employee of NeRRe Therapeutics, and both are inventors on a granted patent on novel uses of orvepitant. BV and PG received payment from NeRRe as investigators in this study. AD received payment from NeRRe for service as the chief medical officer for this study. DJ is an employee of Cromsource, who received payment from NeRRe for statistical analysis of this study. PH has received payment from NeRRe as a consultant. MEL reports receiving personal fees from Legacy Healthcare Services, AdgeroBio Pharmaceuticals, Amryt Pharma, Celldex Therapeutics, Debiopharm, Galderma Research and Development, Johnson & Johnson, Novocure, Lindi Skin, Merck Sharp and Dohme, Helsinn Healthcare, Janssen Research & Development, Menlo Therapeutics, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, F Hoffmann-La Roche, AbbVie, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma, Allergan, Amgen, ER Squibb & Sons, EMD Serono, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, Genentech, Leo Pharma, Seattle Genetics, Bayer, Männer SAS, Lutris Pharma, Pierre Fabre, Paxman Cooler, Adjucare, Dignitana, Biotechspert, Teva Pharmaceuticals Mexico, Parexel, OnQuality Pharmaceuticals, Novartis, Our Brain Bank, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, and research funding from Berg Health, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Lutris Pharma, Novocure, Paxman, Biotest and Veloce BioPharma. GT reports no conflicts of interest. AW reports receiving payment from NeRRe as chair of the advisory board and from Advent Life Sciences for consultancy, Canbex Therapeutics as a non-executive director (past position), Calcico Therapeutics as chairman (past position) and a non-executive director (past position), and the Wellcome Trust as a member of grant committees. SS reports receiving payment from NeRRe as a member of the advisory board and from Almirall, Astellas Pharma, Beiersdorf, Celgene, Chugai Pharma, Creabilis, Daiichi Sankyo, Galderma, Helsinn, Kiniska Pharmaceuticals, Kneipp, Maruho, Merz Pharma, Novartis, Pierre Fabre Laboratories, Sienna Biopharmaceuticals and Ziarco as a member of their advisory boards and from Menlo Therapeutics as an investigator and participation as an investigator in trials sponsored by Dermascence, Trevi Therapeutics and Vanda Pharmaceuticals., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

The last two decades have provided a large weight of preclinical data implicating the neurokinin-1 receptor (NK1) and its cognate ligand substance P (SP) in a broad range of both central and peripheral disease conditions. However, to date, only the NK1 receptor antagonist aprepitant has been approved as a therapeutic and this is to prevent chemotherapy-induced nausea & vomiting (CINV). The belief remained that the full therapeutic potential of NK1 receptor antagonists had yet to be realized; therefore clinical evidence that NK1 receptor antagonists may be effective in major depression disorder, resulted in a significant further investment in discovering novel CNS penetrant druggable NK1 receptor antagonists to address this condition. At GlaxoSmithKline after the discovery of casopitant, that went on to demonstrate efficacy as a novel antidepressant in the clinic, additional novel analogues of this NK1 receptor antagonist were designed to further enhance its drug developability characteristics. Herein, we therefore describe the discovery process and the vivo pharmacological and pharmacokinetic profile of the new NK1 receptor antagonist 3a (also called orvepitant), selected as clinical candidate and further progressed into clinical studies for major depressive disorder. Moreover, molecular modeling studies enabled us to improve the pharmacophore model of the NK1 receptor antagonists with the identification of a region able to accommodate a variety of heterocycle moieties., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Full, persistent blockade of central neurokinin-1 (NK1) receptors may be a potential antidepressant mechanism. The selective NK1 antagonist orvepitant (GW823296) was used to test this hypothesis. A preliminary positron emission tomography study in eight male volunteers drove dose selection for two randomized six week studies in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). Displacement of central [(11)C]GR205171 binding indicated that oral orvepitant doses of 30-60 mg/day provided >99% receptor occupancy for ≥24 h. Studies 733 and 833 randomized patients with MDD and 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D)≥22 to double-blind treatment with orvepitant 30 mg/day, orvepitant 60 mg/day or placebo (1:1:1). Primary outcome measure was change from baseline in 17-item HAM-D total score at Week 6 analyzed using mixed models repeated measures. Study 733 (n=328) demonstrated efficacy on the primary endpoint (estimated drug-placebo differences of 30 mg: -2.41, 95% confidence interval (CI) (-4.50 to -0.31) p=0.0245; 60 mg: -2.86, 95% CI (-4.97 to -0.75) p=0.0082). Study 833 (n=345) did not show significance (estimated drug-placebo differences of 30 mg: -1.67, 95% CI (-3.73 to 0.39) p=0.1122; 60 mg: -0.76, 95% CI (-2.85 to 1.32) p=0.4713). The results support the hypothesis that full, long lasting blockade of central NK1 receptors may be an efficacious mechanism for the treatment of MDD.