Nobody has tested which way of stopping venlafaxine works best
Official guides give three different taper schedules, most guidelines say only 'slowly', and of 272 registered venlafaxine trials none compares one way of stopping it with another.
What the study found
Three official taper schedules for venlafaxine, and no trial of any
The US label cuts 75 mg a week; the UK guideline halves the dose, then cuts by a quarter as it falls; the Royal College takes 10% or 5% steps every 2 to 4 weeks. Of 21 guidelines to 2021, 15 said taper slowly, none said how. Of 272 registered venlafaxine trials, none tests stopping it.
The caveat · One trial registry searched
Trials of tapering exist for antidepressants as a class, so venlafaxine's share of that evidence is real but unlabelled. The registry count is from ClinicalTrials.gov alone. The guideline review closed in May 2021, before the UK guideline of 2022 added its schedule; the label's schedule is the one its trials happened to use.