Antidepressant News and Research

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Antidepressants are medicines that treat depression. Your doctor can prescribe them for you. They can improve your mood, sleep, appetite and concentration. It may take several weeks for them to help. There are several types of antidepressants. You and your doctor may have to try several before finding what works best for you.

Mouse model could help develop new classes of antidepressant drugs

The most widely prescribed antidepressants - medicines such as Prozac, Lexapro and Paxil - work by blocking the serotonin transporter, a brain protein that normally clears away the mood-regulating chemical serotonin. Or so the current thinking goes.

21 Feb 2011

Researchers use computers to capture chemical signal structure that triggers metastatic cancer

In cancer and other pathological diseases, researchers are discovering that packaging is important: specifically, how DNA - about two meters long when unwound and stretched - coils up and compacts neatly inside the nucleus of a cell.

15 Feb 2011

L-methylfolate in combination with antidepressant drug helps major depressive disorder patients

Data published in the January issue of Innovations in Clinical Neuroscience, www.psychiatrymmc.com, suggest when L-methylfolate, a medical food available commercially as Deplin®, and by prescription, is used for dietary management of depression in combination with an antidepressant drug at the start of depression therapy, it results in significantly more patients experiencing major improvement and more rapid improvement than antidepressant monotherapy alone.

10 Feb 2011

Clinical Data reports $2.0 million revenue for third quarter 2011

Clinical Data, Inc. today announced operational and financial results for the third fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2010. The Company received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of Viibryd™ for the treatment of adults with major depressive disorder (MDD) on January 21, 2011.

9 Feb 2011

TREK1 activity offers a key target for fluoxetine and other antidepressant drugs

Using a unique and relatively simple cell-based fluorescent assay they developed, scientists with the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California, Berkeley have identified a means by which fluoxetine, the active ingredient in Prozac, suppresses the activity of the TREK1 potassium channel.

8 Feb 2011

AstraZeneca, Targacept commence TC-5214 Phase 2b clinical trial for major depressive disorder

AstraZeneca and Targacept, Inc. today announced initiation of a Phase 2b clinical trial of TC-5214, a nicotinic channel blocker, as a "switch" monotherapy treatment for patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) who do not respond adequately to initial antidepressant therapy. This study is in addition to the companies' Phase 3 RENAISSANCE Program for TC-5214 as an adjunctive treatment for MDD.

7 Feb 2011

Positive results from EpiCept NP-1 Phase IIb trial in patients with CPN

EpiCept Corporation today announced positive results from a Phase IIb trial evaluating the efficacy and safety of EpiCept NP-1 in chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy. EpiCept NP-1 is a topical analgesic cream containing two FDA-approved drugs, amitriptyline and ketamine, in development for the relief of pain from various peripheral neuropathies.

7 Feb 2011

Cognitive behavioral therapy more effective than antidepressant medications for bulimia nervosa

A new evidence report by ECRI Institute comparing the effectiveness of various treatments for bulimia nervosa indicates that cognitive behavioral therapy is more effective than antidepressant medications and supportive therapies in improving eating disorder symptoms.

2 Feb 2011

FDA, Optivia collaborate to examine effect of dietary supplements in drug-induced liver injury

Optivia Biotechnology, a leading provider of in vitro transporter assay services, today announced that the company and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have signed a collaboration agreement to assess the effect of dietary supplements on key drug transporters.

1 Feb 2011

Study establishes direct link between morphine abstinence and depressive-like symptoms

Opiate abuse is a chronic disorder and maintaining abstinence represents a major challenge for addicts.

1 Feb 2011

Patients with chronic depression can benefit from pioneering neurosurgical treatment

Pioneering neurosurgical treatment, a world first in Bristol, which very accurately targets brain networks involved in depression, could help people who suffer with severe and intractable depression.

25 Jan 2011

FDA approves Clinical Data's Viibryd for major depressive disorder

Clinical Data, Inc., today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved vilazodone HCl tablets, to be marketed under the brand name Viibryd™, for the treatment of adults with major depressive disorder (MDD).

24 Jan 2011

PGxHealth receives FDA approval for Viibryd tablets to treat major depressive disorder

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Viibryd tablets (vilazodone hydrochloride) to treat major depressive disorder in adults.

24 Jan 2011

Health Canada approves Labopharm's OLEPTRO for treatment of Major Depressive Disorder

Labopharm Inc. today announced that Health Canada's Therapeutic Products Directorate (TPD) has approved OLEPTRO, a novel once-daily formulation of the antidepressant trazodone, for the symptomatic relief of Major Depressive Disorder in adults.

21 Jan 2011

Antidepressant medication reduces frequency and severity of menopausal hot flashes

Women who were either in the transition to menopause or postmenopausal experienced a reduction in the frequency and severity of menopausal hot flashes with the use of the antidepressant medication escitalopram, compared to women who received placebo, according to a study in the January 19 issue of JAMA.

19 Jan 2011

Study elaborates relationship between obesity and MDD-R, long-term use of ADs

This study demonstrates that patients using antidepressants continuously, mostly serotonin-selective reuptake inhibitors, show significantly more overweight and obesity than those using them intermittently or not at all.

18 Jan 2011

6.3% of surgeons report suicidal thoughts

As many as one in 16 surgeons reported having suicidal thoughts in the previous year, but few sought help from a mental health clinician, according to a report in the January issue of Archives of Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

18 Jan 2011

Stigma remains over Major Depressive Disorder

Despite there being 39.1 million people suffering from major depressive disorder (MDD) across the seven major markets, only one third of patients will seek help from a physician, finds latest research from independent analyst Datamonitor.

11 Jan 2011

CeNeRx commences TriRima Phase II trial for treatment resistant depression

CeNeRx BioPharma, today reported that it has initiated a Phase II trial of its new formulation of TriRima, the company's novel antidepressant in development as monotherapy for treatment resistant depression.

7 Jan 2011

Study: Antibiotics can provide long-lasting relief to patients with irritable bowel syndrome

A ground-breaking antibiotic therapy developed at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is the first potential drug treatment to provide irritable bowel syndrome patients with long-lasting relief of their symptoms even after they stop taking the medication, according to a study published in the Jan. 6 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

6 Jan 2011