Patients receiving ketamine-assisted psychotherapy often sit in a controlled environment, such as this one seen at Field Trip psychedelic therapy clinic in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. A new pill being studied could move ketamine treatment from the clinic to patients’ homes. Cole Burston/AFP/Getty Images/File
CNN —
A new ketamine pill may help hard-to-treat depression with fewer side effects than other forms of the treatment, early research suggests.
Technically, no form of ketamine has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to treat any psychiatric disorder, including depression. A derivative of ketamine, called esketamine, was approved in 2019 to treat depression. It’s a nasal spray called Spravato. There’s also FDA-approved injected ketamine, brand-named Ketalar, which can be prescribed off-label.
Both can be a fast-acting lifeline for people living with depression that hasn’t been relieved by other types of treatments. Getting the drug, or a derivative of it, through a vein or as a squirt up the nose requires close medical supervision in a clinic, however, making these options hard for some people to access or even to do.
“It’s very logistically involved. You have to come in and be observed for a couple hours,” said Dr. Brian Barnett, clinical director of the Psychiatric Treatment Resistance Program at the Cleveland Clinic, who was not involved in the study. “The field has really been looking for a way to take advantage of ketamine for depression but let patients take this at home in the form of a pill.”
To confuse matters even further, compounded ketamine lozenges and pills are available through online pharmacies and can be obtained with a prescription, but the FDA warned patients and providers about using compounded ketamine last fall because these products have not been evaluated for safety and effectiveness. Some doctors who prescribe ketamine for depression say they are wary of the oral forms because it’s not clear how much of the drug actually makes it to a patient’s bloodstream. Tesla CEO Elon Musk is pictured during a visit at the company’s electric car plant in Gruenheide near Berlin, eastern Germany, on March 13, 2024, as employees resumed work after production had […]
A ketamine pill may help hard-to-treat depression with fewer side effects, early research suggests
