Innovative Psychiatry
Johnson & Johnson patented a form of the psychedelic with less research and a ridiculous price tag. In a popular and public move, the United States’ Federal Drug Administration recently approved intranasal esketamine, one of the components of the psychedelic ketamine, for treatment-resistant depression. The nasal spray costs nearly $900 per dose—or roughly $7,000 for the first month […]
Originally published in Brain & Behavior Magazine, July 2017 An important discovery has been made at the University of Pittsburgh. It raises the prospect that there may be an entirely new way of relieving major depression in people who repeatedly have failed to respond to existing treatments—people at elevated risk for suicide whose lives are often unrelentingly dark […]
The anesthetic-cum-party drug restores the ability to make connections among brain cells. The Food and Drug Administration’s approval last month of a depression treatment based on ketamine generated headlines, in part, because the drug represents a completely new approach for dealing with a condition the World Health Organisation has labelled the leading cause of disability […]
Ketamine appears to restore faulty connections between brain cells, according to research performed in mice. The anesthetic ketamine can relieve depression in hours and keep it at bay for a week or more. Now scientists have found hints about how ketamine works in the brain. In mice, the drug appears to quickly improve the functioning […]
A new study shows that weekly ketamine infusions are associated with continued and maintained reductions in depressive symptoms among patients with treatment-resistant depression. The findings, which are considered novel among studies assessing ketamine administration for patients with treatment-resistant depression, evidence the promising role the controversial drug could play in psychiatric care. A team of investigators, led […]
For years, ketamine clinics across the country have offered intravenous infusions as a fast-acting treatment for severe depression. But last week, the US Food and Drug Administration approved a version of ketamine, called esketamine, to do the same thing — so what’s the difference and what will this mean for newly interested patients? Ketamine, sometimes […]
The newly approved drug, esketamine, is one half of the ketamine compound. By Angela Chen@chengela Mar 11, 2019, 3:45pm EDTIllustration by Alex Castro/The Verge For years, ketamine clinics across the country have offered intravenous infusions as a fast-acting treatment for severe depression. But last week, the US Food and Drug Administration approved a version of ketamine, called esketamine, […]
For Immediate Release March 5, 2019 Release The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Spravato (esketamine) nasal spray, in conjunction with an oral antidepressant, for the treatment of depression in adults who have tried other antidepressant medicines but have not benefited from them (treatment-resistant depression). Because of the risk of serious adverse outcomes resulting […]
(Reuters) – An advisory panel to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday voted in favor of Johnson & Johnson’s experimental nasal spray, which has a compound similar to often-abused ketamine, bringing the drug closer to approval. The panel voted 14-2 in favor of the drug esketamine, developed to treat major depression in patients […]
A version of the club drug is expected to be approved for depression in March. Researchers think it could help treat suicidal thinking. Joe Wright has no doubt that ketamine saved his life. A 34-year-old high school teacher who writes poetry every day on a typewriter, Wright was plagued by suicidal impulses for years. The […]