Antidepressant News and Research

RSS

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.

IQWiG dossier assessment finds no added benefit for vortioxetine in depression

Vortioxetine (trade name: Brintellix) has been approved since December 2013 for the treatment of depression in adults, but did not become actually available before May 2015. The German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care examined in a dossier assessment whether this drug offers an added benefit over the appropriate comparator therapy. Such an added benefit cannot be derived from the dossier because it contained no data evaluable for the assessment.

12 Aug 2015

FDA accepts sNDA to review Brintellix clinical trial data for treatment of major depressive disorder

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (Takeda) and H. Lundbeck A/S (Lundbeck) announced today the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted a supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) for review to add clinical data regarding the effect of Brintellix (vortioxetine) on certain aspects of cognitive function in adults with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) to the current product label.

11 Aug 2015

Benefits and risks of taking antidepressant medications during pregnancy

Treating maternal psychiatric disorder with commonly used antidepressants is associated with a lower risk of certain pregnancy complications including preterm birth and delivery by Caesarean section, according to researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Medical Center, and the New York State Psychiatric Institute. However, the medications -- selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs -- resulted in an increased risk of neonatal problems.

4 Aug 2015

Female patients with depression have abnormally high expression levels of glutamate receptor genes

Numerous genes that regulate the activity of a neurotransmitter in the brain have been found to be abundant in brain tissue of depressed females. This could be an underlying cause of the higher incidence of suicide among women, according to research at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

31 Jul 2015

IUPUI researchers receive NIH grant to study effect of depression treatment on cardiovascular disease

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis researchers led by Jesse Stewart of the School of Science, have received a $2.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to conduct the first randomized controlled trial to determine whether depression treatment can help prevent the development of cardiovascular disease.

31 Jul 2015

Psychotropic medication use widespread among older adults, new study finds

Older Americans receive prescriptions for mental health medications at more than twice the rate that younger adults do, a new study finds.

31 Jul 2015

Diagnosing psychiatric disorder may not be as important as prescribing effective treatment

Nailing the diagnosis of a psychiatric disorder may not be important in prescribing effective treatment, according to Mark Zimmerman, M.D., a clinical researcher at Rhode Island Hospital. His opinion editorial was published online today in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

24 Jul 2015

Study reveals potential new therapeutic target for depression treatment

Increasing the levels of a signaling molecule found in the brain can positively alter response to stress, revealing a potential new therapeutic target for treatment of depression, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers said.

22 Jul 2015

Most patients with depression excluded from antidepressant trials, study finds

More than 80 percent of people with depression in the general population aren't eligible for clinical trials of antidepressant drugs, according to a study in the Journal of Psychiatric Practice.

15 Jul 2015

New study identifies potential antidepressant medications with few side effects

A new study by researchers at University of Maryland School of Medicine has identified promising compounds that could successfully treat depression in less than 24 hours while minimizing side effects. Although they have not yet been tested in people, the compounds could offer significant advantages over current antidepressant medications.

14 Jul 2015

Research examines reasons behind variation in prescription practices of antidepressants across Europe

Public attitudes towards mental illness and levels of healthcare spending may explain the huge variation in antidepressant use across Europe, according to a new study by researchers from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King's College London.

9 Jul 2015

St John's Wort may cause same adverse reactions as antidepressants

St John's Wort can produce the same adverse reactions as antidepressants, and serious side effects can occur when the two are taken together, according to new University of Adelaide research.

2 Jul 2015

Men referred for borderline testosterone levels have much higher rates of depression than general population

Researchers at the George Washington University, led by Michael S. Irwig, M.D., found that men referred for tertiary care for borderline testosterone levels had much higher rates of depression and depressive symptoms than those of the general population.

2 Jul 2015

Concert Pharmaceuticals’ precision deuteration platform can enhance metabolic properties of drugs

Substituting deuterium for certain hydrogen atoms in molecules has been shown to enhance the metabolic properties of a number of drugs and provides a promising approach to the discovery and development of innovative drug products.

2 Jul 2015

Study sheds new light on role of patient-doctor relationship in antidepressant drug treatment

A study published in the current issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic sheds new light on the role of patient-doctor relationship in antidepressant drug treatment.

24 Jun 2015

Person-centered approach to physical therapy has positive effect on depression

Exercise has a positive effect on depression - so reveals a dissertation written at the Sahlgrenska Academy. In at study at the Sahlgrenska Academy, the researcher evaluated exercise as add-on therapy to medicating with antidepressants. The study divided 62 individuals with diagnosed clinical depression into three groups, in which two participated in two different types of exercise with a physiotherapist twice a week for 10 weeks while the third, the control group, did not participate in systematic exercise.

12 Jun 2015

Recurrent major depression may increase osteoporosis risk in men

A recent study from the University of Eastern Finland in collaboration with Deakin University, Australia, shows that recurrent major depressive disorder (MDD) in men is associated with lower bone density. The use of antidepressants was also associated with lower bone mineral density (BMD), but this association was dependent on the person's weight and site of bone measurement.

12 Jun 2015

Use of antidepressants in late pregnancy may be associated with increased risk of PPHN

An analysis of approximately 3.8 million pregnancies finds that use of antidepressants late in pregnancy may be associated with an increased risk of persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN), according to a study in the June 2 issue of JAMA. However, the absolute risk was small and the risk increase appears more modest than suggested in previous studies.

3 Jun 2015

Researchers explore association between SSRI exposure in late pregnancy and risk of PPHN

Use of antidepressants late in pregnancy has been controversial since the FDA issued a Public Health Advisory in 2006 warning that the use of antidepressants in late pregnancy may increase risk of persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN), a condition that typically occurs in term or near-term infants and presents within hours of birth with severe respiratory failure requiring intubation and mechanical ventilation.

2 Jun 2015

Study explores efficacy of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in reducing depressed mood

Many have recently questioned the efficacy of the most common antidepressant medications, the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). The conclusion that these drugs are ineffective is however partly based on a misinterpretation of the outcome of the clinical trials once conducted to demonstrate their efficacy. This was the finding of a study conducted by researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy.

29 May 2015

Antidepressant News and Research

Further Reading

IQWiG dossier assessment finds no added benefit for vortioxetine in depression

FDA accepts sNDA to review Brintellix clinical trial data for treatment of major depressive disorder

Benefits and risks of taking antidepressant medications during pregnancy

Female patients with depression have abnormally high expression levels of glutamate receptor genes

IUPUI researchers receive NIH grant to study effect of depression treatment on cardiovascular disease

Psychotropic medication use widespread among older adults, new study finds

Diagnosing psychiatric disorder may not be as important as prescribing effective treatment

Study reveals potential new therapeutic target for depression treatment

Most patients with depression excluded from antidepressant trials, study finds

New study identifies potential antidepressant medications with few side effects

Research examines reasons behind variation in prescription practices of antidepressants across Europe

St John's Wort may cause same adverse reactions as antidepressants

Men referred for borderline testosterone levels have much higher rates of depression than general population

Concert Pharmaceuticals’ precision deuteration platform can enhance metabolic properties of drugs

Study sheds new light on role of patient-doctor relationship in antidepressant drug treatment

Person-centered approach to physical therapy has positive effect on depression

Recurrent major depression may increase osteoporosis risk in men

Use of antidepressants in late pregnancy may be associated with increased risk of PPHN

Researchers explore association between SSRI exposure in late pregnancy and risk of PPHN

Study explores efficacy of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in reducing depressed mood

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

Expanding access to NMR with the Fourier 80 Duo

Latest News