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.

Naurex receives new U.S. patent for its lead compound, GLYX-13

Naurex Inc., a clinical-stage company developing innovative treatments to address unmet needs in psychiatry and neurology, today announced issuance of a new U.S. patent for its lead compound, GLYX-13.

31 Jul 2013

Forest Laboratories, Pierre Fabre Laboratories announce that FETZIMA gets FDA approval for MDD

Forest Laboratories, Inc. and Pierre Fabre Laboratories announced today that FETZIMA (levomilnacipran extended-release capsules), a once-daily serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, discovered by Pierre Fabre Laboratories and co-developed by Forest Laboratories, Inc. was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of Major Depressive Disorder in adults.

26 Jul 2013

Metabolomics tools predict who can benefit from treatment with certain antidepressants

Duke Medicine researchers have identified biochemical changes in people taking antidepressants - but only in those whose depression improves. These changes occur in a neurotransmitter pathway that is connected to the pineal gland, the part of the endocrine system that controls the sleep cycle, suggesting an added link between sleep, depression and treatment outcomes.

19 Jul 2013

Assurex Health announces release of new psychiatric pharmacogenomic test panel

Assurex Health today announced the release of GeneSight Psychotropic 2.0, its lead psychiatric pharmacogenomic test panel. This latest GeneSight Psychotropic version has been updated to include four additional medications that now cover a total of 36 of the most commonly prescribed psychotropic medications in the US.

15 Jul 2013

Seven scientists to receive Annual Klerman and Freedman Prizes from Brain & Behavior Research Foundation

Seven young scientists will be recognized by the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation at its presentation of the Annual Klerman and Freedman Prizes on Friday July 26, 2013 at Le Parker Meriden Hotel, New York, NY.

12 Jul 2013

Multimodal neuroimaging approach helps study structural and functional abnormalities in brain

Major depressive disorder is associated with a dysregulation of brain regions including the prefrontal cortex and limbic system. The relationship between structural and functional abnormalities in these brain regions in depressed patients is far from clear. However, both types of changes are assumed to underlie the symptoms of this disorder.

9 Jul 2013

Depression calculator to predict likelihood of antidepressant response in individual patients

As in any other field of medicine, when a depressed person visits a psychiatrist for treatment of depression, they like to be informed of the odds that they will respond to the medication they are prescribed. Unfortunately, there has been no precise way to predict antidepressant response in individual patients.

2 Jul 2013

Improving care for depression in low-income communities provides greater benefits: Study

Improving care for depression in low-income communities -- places where such help is frequently unavailable or hard to find -- provides greater benefits to those in need when community groups such as churches and even barber shops help lead the planning process, according to a new study.

26 Jun 2013

Nearly 70% of Americans use at least one prescription drug, say researchers

Nearly 70 percent of Americans are on at least one prescription drug, and more than half take two, Mayo Clinic researchers say. Antibiotics, antidepressants and painkilling opioids are most commonly prescribed, their study found. Twenty percent of patients are on five or more prescription medications, according to the findings, published online in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

20 Jun 2013

Loyola researcher to study role of Vitamin D in women with diabetes and depression

A Loyola University Chicago Niehoff School of Nursing researcher has received a four-year, $1.49 million grant to study whether Vitamin D can improve mood in women with diabetes who are depressed.

20 Jun 2013

Short-term exposure to antidepressants, stress, high-fat diet is associated with long-term increases in body weight

Short-term use of antidepressants, combined with stress and a high-fat diet, is associated with long-term increases in body weight, a new animal study finds. The results were presented Sunday at The Endocrine Society's 95th Annual Meeting in San Francisco.

18 Jun 2013

Gulf War illness may have two distinct forms, study says

Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center say their new work suggests that Gulf War illness may have two distinct forms depending on which brain regions have atrophied. Their study of Gulf War veterans, published online today in PLOS ONE, may help explain why clinicians have consistently encountered veterans with different symptoms and complaints.

15 Jun 2013

UTHealth psychiatrists win 2013 American Psychiatric Association's Mind Games competition for the third time

For the final question in the 2013 American Psychiatric Association's Mind Games competition, it was not enough to name the medication (ketamine) that has been shown in a few small studies to have a rapid antidepressant effect in treatment refractory patients.

14 Jun 2013

Depression, antidepressant use may increase risk for diabetes and CVD in postmenopausal women

Postmenopausal women who use antidepressant medication or suffer from depression might be more likely to have a higher body mass index, larger waist circumference and inflammation-all associated with increased risk for diabetes and cardiovascular disease, according to a study led by University of Massachusetts Medical School investigator Yunsheng Ma, PhD, MD, MPH, and published in the June 13 issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

14 Jun 2013

PTSD patients with Met-66 allele of BDNF show poorer response to exposure therapy

There is growing evidence that a gene variant that reduces the plasticity of the nervous system also modulates responses to treatments for mood and anxiety disorders. In this case, patients with posttraumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, with a less functional variant of the gene coding for brain-derived neurotrophic factor, responded less well to exposure therapy.

13 Jun 2013

Constella® (linaclotide), for the symptomatic treatment of Irritable Bowel Syndrome with Constipation (IBS-C), is now available in Germany, UK and Nordic countries

Almirall, S.A. (ALM:MC) and Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: IRWD) announced the launch of Constella® (linaclotide 290mcg capsules once daily), the first approved prescription therapy in a new class of treatments for adults suffering from moderate to severe IBS-C,(1) in Europe. Constella® is now available in Germany, the UK and Nordic countries and is expected to be launched in several other European countries in 2013.

13 Jun 2013

Common antidepressant medications may impair a form of learning, new report suggests

An interesting new report of animal research published in Biological Psychiatry suggests that common antidepressant medications may impair a form of learning that is important clinically.

10 Jun 2013

Naurex initiates Phase I trial of NRX-1074 in normal volunteers

Naurex Inc., a clinical-stage company developing innovative treatments to address unmet needs in psychiatry and neurology, today announced that it has begun patient dosing in a Phase I trial of its novel, orally active agent NRX-1074.

4 Jun 2013

GLYX-13 drug induces antidepressant results without street drug side effects

GLYX-13, a molecular cousin to ketamine, induces similar antidepressant results without the street drug side effects, reported a study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) that was published last month in Neuropsychopharmacology.

31 May 2013

Research explores connections between the brain, immune system and psychological functions

It's true that the brain governs the body, but the body also governs the brain, for example when the immune defense system makes us rest when we're sick. This is shown in research that the world's leading researchers and Nobel laureates will be presenting at an international conference in the research field of psychoneuroimmunology in Stockholm in June.

30 May 2013