Esketamine - Articles - Page 3

The Secret History of Ketamine

July 8, 2019

In 1985 a Soviet psychiatrist began giving his patients ketamine in hopes to cure their alcoholism. The experiment backfired, but the results tell us something about how ketamine might treat depression. Long buried behind the Iron Curtain, this episode uncovers that early research and traces it back to modern PET-scans,...

Esketamine Gets FDA Approval

July 3, 2019

Michael Posternak, MD. Psychiatrist in private practice, Boston, MA. Dr. Posternak has disclosed that he has no relevant financial or other interests in any commercial companies pertaining to this educational activity.

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.

Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) Programs

July 3, 2019

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. Here are links to enroll.