Esketamine produces rapid effects in treatment-resistant depression
Ketamine piqued researchers' interest when a study demonstrated that low doses of the drug have rapid antidepressant effects, alleviating symptoms within just 2 hours. This stood in stark contrast to conventional antidepressant drugs, which can take 1 to 3 months to produce an effect. In addition, ketamine appeared to work in patients who did not see improvement in symptoms with conventional antidepressant drugs, about one third of patients with major depressive disorder. Although ketamine entered the field as a promising new antidepressant a decade ago, no strategy has been established to maintain its efficacy. Studies have primarily focused on the effects of a single IV dose, but patients who initially respond tend to relapse within a week after the infusion. In this study, first author Jaskaran Singh from Janssen Research & Development, LLC in San Diego, California and colleagues examined for the first time the safety and efficacy of esketamine in patients with treatm...