"FDA Could Approve Ketamine Nasal Spray as Depression Treatment" - Jonathan Lapook
The FDA may be on the verge of approving the first new treatment for depression in decades. One out of every six adults will have depression at some point in their life, and it affects about 16 million Americans every year. The drug esketamine, is a nasal spray form of ketamine. It can only be used in a doctor's office for treatment resistant depression. That's when at least two medications fail to work, and about 30 percent of people with depression are treatment resistant. Dennis Charney, MD, dean of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and president of academic affairs for the Mount Sinai Health System said, "the available drugs have been available since 1960. There hasn't been a novel mechanism for the treatment of depression until ketamine.”
— Dennis S. Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, President, Academic Affairs, Mount Sinai Health System