# Venlafaxine

Source: https://onco.cc/drugs/venlafaxine/  
OnCo record `venlafaxine` (Treatment). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Venlafaxine is an antidepressant tablet that is also used, at the doctor's discretion, to reduce hot flushes caused by breast or prostate cancer hormone treatment.

## Summary

The US label covers major depressive disorder (and, for the extended-release form, anxiety disorders). Cancer Care Ontario's 2017 guideline, adapted by ASCO, says that for women unable or unwilling to use hormone therapy alternatives include paroxetine, venlafaxine, gabapentin and clonidine, and that options for men include "venlafaxine, medroxyprogesterone acetate, cyproterone acetate, and gabapentin". The use for hot flushes is off-label. The Effexor NDA was approved on 28 December 1993.

## Fields

- Kind: Treatment
- Status: approved
- Last checked: 2026-11-11
- Tags: supportive; generic; supportive-care-gaps-2026-11
- Brand: Effexor
- Modality: Serotonin and noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor (oral)
- Mechanism: Inhibits reuptake of serotonin and noradrenaline.
- Approvals: US 1993: Major depressive disorder

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venlafaxine
- US label (DailyMed): venlafaxine tablets: https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?setid=017a84aa-0e1f-f560-e063-6294a90a9069
- Barbera et al., Interventions to address sexual problems in people with cancer (Cancer Care Ontario guideline, Curr Oncol 2017), vasomotor symptoms: https://doi.org/10.3747/co.24.3583

## Connected records

- drugs: [Cyproterone acetate](https://onco.cc/drugs/cyproterone/), [Gabapentin](https://onco.cc/drugs/gabapentin/)
- terms: [Hot flushes on hormone therapy](https://onco.cc/terms/hot-flushes-on-hormone-therapy/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/venlafaxine.json