Ketamine tablets, an option against depression

MADRID.— The Ketamine can be used to treat depression and usually be administered intravenously or, in some cases, by means of a aerosol nasal. And new essay demonstrated that a slow-release tablet formulation reduces the adverse effects associated with these types of administration.

It’s about a Phase 2 clinical trial led by the University of Otago, New Zealand, whose results were published yesterday in “Nature Medicine”: ketamine in pill form proved effective against depression resistant to other treatments.

The ketamine that is administered vintravenously or by nasal spray It can cause dissociation, hypertension and tachycardia shortly after application.

Paul Glue and his team designed a clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of a new formulation of oral ketamine, taken as a tablet (called R-107), which may deliver the drug more slowly into the blood of patients with treatment-resistant depression.

The researchers observed that this formulation reduced the adverse effects associated with intravenous and intranasal administration, and prevented relapse of depression in patients resistant to therapy.

A total of 231 people entered the first phase of the trial, in which participants received 120 milligrams of the new formulation for five days to identify responders.

These were those who showed a 50% or greater reduction in their depression scale scores. Montgomery-Asberga diagnostic questionnaire that measures the severity of episodes.

The 168 patients who responded moved on to the second phase, where they were randomly assigned to either the group that continued taking R-107 or a placebo group.

During the randomized phase of the study, most doses were administered to patients at home.

Researchers found that 71 percent of patients in the placebo group experienced a relapse of depression after 13 weeks, compared with 43 percent of those given 180 milligrams of R-107 twice weekly. Tolerability was excellent, with no changes in blood pressure and minimal reports of sedation and dissociation.

The most common adverse events were headache, dizziness and anxiety.

The authors conclude that the use of an oral sustained-release formulation of ketamine may be advantageous in terms of fewer adverse effects and greater convenience for administration in the community.