Optimized Predictive Treatment In Medications for Unipolar Major Depression (OPTIMUM-D)

All patients will receive open-label escitalopram (10-20 mg/d) for the entire study duration (12 weeks).

Depending on the initial randomization process, patients will either receive blinded brexpiprazole (0.5-2 mg/d) for the entire study duration (12 weeks) or for the last 4 weeks of the study if they received the placebo during the first 8 weeks of the study and were non-responders.