A nasal spray version of esketamine was more effective for depression that is resistant to treatment than a more commonly used drug, research published Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine found.

Esketamine is a more potent form of ketamine, an anesthetic that doctors have used for many years to treat depression. The nasal spray, from Janssen Pharmaceuticals, is sold under the name Spravato and was approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treatment-resistant depression in 2019. Janssen funded the new study, which took place in 24 countries across Africa, Asia, Europe and South America.

“Treatment-resistant depression is a pretty significant problem,” said Dr. Michael Grunebaum, an associate professor of psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City and a research psychiatrist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute.

  • qooqie@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I would recommend asking your provider about Auvelity since that is actually available and is very effective (and very new). It is expensive though so if you can get a provider who will give you those drug samples from reps it’s good or if you’re lucky and insurance covers it well that’s great too lol

      • qooqie@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        The way it works is really awesome though and shouldn’t be judged on what they do separately. But I entirely agree, seems the old medications were actually really effective when combined with other meds. We had it figured out, but not really at all back then lol