According to published reports, The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Breakthrough Device designation to Sooma Medical's portable, noninvasive neuromodulation device for treating depression, which can be administered by the patient. The device, which uses transcranial direct current stimulation to target specific areas of the brain and alleviate [...]
Objective: To compare the efficacy and speed of achieving remission/response in treatment-resistant depression (TRD) patients treated with subanesthetic intravenous (IV) ketamine and intranasal (IN) esketamine approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Methods: The study was observational and included 62 adults with TRD who received up to 6 [...]
In a phase 2 study, pimavanserin showed promise as a treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD) when used in combination with other antidepressants. Two phase 3 studies were then conducted to further evaluate its efficacy and safety in patients with MDD who had not responded well to existing antidepressant treatment. [...]
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the anti-amyloid beta protofibril antibody lecanemab (Leqembi, Eisai) for the treatment of early Alzheimer's disease (AD). The agency approved the treatment on the basis of findings from the CLARITY AD trial, which showed modest cognitive benefit for patients with early AD [...]
In a study published in PLOS Medicine that uses data spanning 25 years, the authors observed short sleep duration to be associated with risk of chronic disease and subsequent multimorbidity but not with progression to death. There was no robust evidence of an increased risk of chronic disease among those [...]
An enzyme that efficiently degrades and metabolizes cocaine has been given a ‘cooperative agreement grant’ from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) part of the National Institutes of Health. The recombinant enzyme is a double-mutant cocaine esterase 200 mg intravenous (IV) solution and treats cocaine intoxication, which refers to the state [...]
It is known that psychedelics activate serotonin 2A receptors, which eventually leads to states like increased empathy and out-of-body experiences. One of the key questions remaining n psychedelic medicine is quantifying how this class of drugs operates at the higher-order brain level. As reported in Psychiatric News, part of a [...]
Suicidal behaviors were higher during the school year (average of 6,761/month) compared to school break (average of 4,512/month). Prevalence of suicidal behaviors was highest in October for both hospitalization and primary diagnosis of mood disorder. Among the school year cohort, the rate of suicidal behaviors was higher in youth with [...]
Two drugs have emerged as the optimal medications for treating insomnia based on the "best-available evidence," but there are caveats. In a comprehensive comparative-effectiveness analysis, lemborexant and eszopiclone showed the best efficacy, acceptability, and tolerability for acute and long-term insomnia treatment. However, eszopiclone may cause substantial side effects — and safety data on lemborexant [...]
Whereas symptoms of depression are known to intensify in patients who have recently experienced an incident stroke, it might also be true in such cases that the depression actually starts to worsen in the months or years before the stroke occurs, suggests a new study of adults 50 years and older. "Stroke seems to [...]