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Addiction Recovery Bulletin
NEW NOSE CANDY –
Jan. 23, 2025 – Regulators based their approval on the data culled from a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Results showed the drug offered quick relief and much better efficacy than the placebo, Spravato works by targeting glutamate, the brain’s widespread excitatory neurotransmitter. While the mechanics remain murky, this novel treatment sets it apart from oral antidepressants.
Caregivers have administered the drug to more than 140,000 patients across 77 countries.
“The approval of intranasal esketamine as a monotherapy for TRD is a significant step forward, in that it will make this treatment a more appealing option for a subset of patients who’d prefer not to take a traditional oral antidepressant alongside intranasal esketamine,” Stella Mental Health Chief Psychiatrist Brian Boyle, MD, said. “Patients seek esketamine precisely because oral antidepressant medications haven’t helped enough or have caused intolerable side effects.
“Indeed, there are patients who may have benefited greatly from esketamine, who in the past have declined to pursue esketamine because of the requirement that they continue to take an oral antidepressant,” Boyle added. “Now, these patients will have access to what they need, an antidepressant treatment that gets them better, faster, without the side effects that often come with a medication that must be taken every day.”
CONTINUE@Psychiatrist
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