Emotional Processing in Healthy Volunteers in the Presence of an Investigational Anxiolytic

Summary

This will be a phase I, single centre, randomised, double blind, double-dummy, placebo controlled, parallel group single-dose study in healthy volunteers. The purpose of this study is to assess the effect of a single-dose administration of GSK424887, a potent, selective competitive antagonist of the human Neurokinin 1 (NK1) receptor and a potent inhibitor of the human serotonin transporter (SERT), at the maximum dosage of 100 mg versus placebo and versus citalopram (20 mg) on emotional processing in healthy male volunteers. Pharmacokinetics and safety following oral administration of GSK424887 will be also evaluated. An Emotional Test Battery (ETB) previously used to characterise the effects of antidepressants on positive and negative emotion processing in Healthy Volunteers and patients will be used. We hypothesise that GSK424887 will modulate emotional information processing acutely. We anticipate that these effects may be manifest at sub-effective levels of NK1 and SERT receptor occupancy, thus providing pharmacodynamic evidence of the synergistic interaction of the two mechanisms in humans.

Timeline

Start

2008-09-19

Primary completion

2009-04-30

Completion

2009-04-30

Publications

• Background Harmer CJ, Dawson GR, Dourish CT, Favaron E, Parsons E, Fiore M, Zucchetto M, Bifone A, Poggesi I, Fernandes S, Alexander RC, Goodwin GM. Combined NK(1) antagonism and serotonin reuptake inhibition: effects on emotional processing in humans. J Psychopharmacol. 2013 May;27(5):435-43. doi: 10.1177/0269881112472558. Epub 2013 Feb 12.

Drugs

Indications