Intranasal Esketamine: New Hope for Suicidal Patients?

Topics: Depression | Esketamine | Fast-acting | Free Articles | Intra-nasal | Ketamine | Management | Psychopharmacology | Suicidality

It’s likely your patients have asked you about esketamine. The buzz is that it’s a rapid-acting miracle cure for suicidal depression. Dr. Thomas Insel, former director of NIMH, declared that ketamine “might be the most important breakthrough in antidepressant treatment in decades” (www.nimh.nih.gov/about/directors/thomas-insel/blog/2014/ketamine

Getting Uncomfortable with Esketamine

Topics: Antidepressant Augmentation | Antidepressants | Brain Devices | Depression | Depressive Disorder | ECT | Esketamine | Free Articles | Ketamine | Neurotoxicity | Novel Medications | rTMS | Suicidality | TMS | Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation | Treatment-Resistant Depression

Esketamine (Spravato) was approved for treatment-resistant depression in 2019. In this interview, Dr. Williams (who has no relationship with Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc) addresses some lingering doubts that have been raised about the medicine. TCPR: Where does esketamine fit in the list of interventional therapies for depression, like repetitive tra

Pilot Study of Ketamine vs ECT for Major Depression

Topics: ECT | Esketamine | Ketamine | Suicide | Treatment-Resistant Depression

REVIEW OF: Kheirabadi D et al, J Clin Psychopharm 2020;40(6):588–593 STUDY TYPE: Randomized controlled trial Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has long been the gold standard for severe or treatment-refractory depression (TRD). However, it has two major drawbacks: it involves anesthesia and it may be associated with memory impairment. Ketamine has

Esketamine Gets FDA Approval

Topics: Depression | Depressive Disorder | Esketamine | Pharmacology | Treatment-Resistant Depression

On March 5, 2019, the FDA approved esketamine (Spravato) nasal spray as add-on therapy to traditional antidepressant medications for treatment-resistant depression (TRD). In this article, I will describe the events that led to esketamine’s development, review the data submitted to the FDA, and discuss what the future might hold for esketamine. Backgr

Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) Programs

Topics: Depression | Depressive Disorder | Esketamine | Pharmacology | Treatment-Resistant Depression

Certain psychiatric treatments require both the healthcare provider and patient to enroll in a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) program before they are administered. Below are links to enroll: Brexanolone (Zulresso) http://www.zulressorems.com/ Buprenorphine-based therapies (Suboxone, Subutex) https://www.samhsa.gov/medication-assi