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.

Research roundup: Medication adherence, performance at community health centers

For people diagnosed with depression, it's important that they adhere to their medication regimen so that they avoid recurrent episodes. But because of Medicare's Part D coverage gap, financially burdened seniors might not take their prescriptions as recommended. This study looked at Medicare beneficiaries diagnosed with depression in 2007.

14 Jul 2012

Psychotic depression now fulfills the criteria for a valid psychiatric syndrome

The number of studies reporting significant and clinically relevant differences between psychotic depression (PD) and non-PD has increased considerably over the past decades. This summary of the current evidence suggests that PD now fulfils the criteria for a valid psychiatric syndrome.

14 Jul 2012

Key risk features predictive for suicide in bipolar disorder identified

Study findings suggest that patients with bipolar disorder who present with mixed-states, melancholic depressive features, or have multiple antidepressant treatment episodes are at increased risk for suicide.

13 Jul 2012

Novel molecular mechanism responsible for most important symptom of major depression

Stanford University School of Medicine scientists have laid bare a novel molecular mechanism responsible for the most important symptom of major depression: anhedonia, the loss of the ability to experience pleasure.

12 Jul 2012

Adiponectin reduces depression-like symptoms in mice

A hormone with anti-diabetic properties also reduces depression-like symptoms in mice, researchers from the School of Medicine at the UT Health Science Center San Antonio reported today.

10 Jul 2012

Antidepressant use among seniors: Falling through Medicare's doughnut hole?

A new study links the gap in Medicare Part D coverage and cutbacks by seniors in using this and other medications.

4 Jul 2012

Rapamycin enhances learning and memory in young mice

Cognitive skills such as learning and memory diminish with age in everyone, and the drop-off is steepest in Alzheimer's disease. Texas scientists seeking a way to prevent this decline reported exciting results this week with a drug that has Polynesian roots.

30 Jun 2012

Scientists successfully tag serotonin transporter to track movements of single molecules

In a process akin to belling an infinitesimal cat, scientists have managed to tag a protein that regulates the neurotransmitter serotonin with tiny fluorescent beads, allowing them to track the movements of single molecules for the first time.

29 Jun 2012

Vitamin D therapy may improve symptoms of depression in women

Women with moderate to severe depression had substantial improvement in their symptoms of depression after they received treatment for their vitamin D deficiency, a new study finds. The case report series will be presented Saturday at The Endocrine Society's 94th Annual Meeting in Houston.

26 Jun 2012

Self-harm and suicide in young people: the role of new media

In the first Series paper, Self-harm and suicide in adolescents, Professor Keith Hawton, Dr Kate Saunders of the University of Oxford’s Centre for Suicide Research, and Professor Rory O’Connor of University of Stirling’s Suicidal Behaviour Research Laboratory, UK, examine existing research to look at the connections between self-harm and suicide in young people.

25 Jun 2012

Addition of physical activity intervention to usual care does not reduce depressive symptoms

Current clinical guidance recommends physical activity to alleviate the symptoms of depression. However, new research published in the BMJ, suggests that adding a physical activity intervention to usual care did not reduce symptoms of depression more than usual care alone, even though it increased levels of physical activity.

16 Jun 2012

Drug safety warnings by FDA do not always lead to targeted changes

Drug safety warnings issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) don't always lead to targeted changes in the way medications are prescribed and used, reports a study in the June issue of Medical Care.

15 Jun 2012

Gut microbes regulate brain levels of serotonin

UCC scientists have shown that brain levels of serotonin, the 'happy hormone' are regulated by the amount of bacteria in the gut during early life. Their research is being published today in the leading international psychiatry journal, Molecular Psychiatry.

13 Jun 2012

Duloxetine drug reduces painful chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy in majority of patients

The antidepressant drug duloxetine, known commercially as Cymbalta, helped relieve painful tingling feelings caused by chemotherapy in 59 percent of patients, a new study finds. This is the first clinical trial to find an effective treatment for this pain.

4 Jun 2012

Exercise reduces expression of cytokines and alleviates neuropathic pain

Exercise helps to alleviate pain related to nerve damage (neuropathic pain) by reducing levels of certain inflammation-promoting factors, suggests an experimental study in the June issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS).

2 Jun 2012

Smoker's genetic makeup can help predict response to drug therapy

The same gene variations that make it difficult to stop smoking also increase the likelihood that heavy smokers will respond to nicotine-replacement therapy and drugs that thwart cravings, a new study shows.

31 May 2012

Ketamine reduces suicidal thoughts in patients with bipolar depression

Bipolar disorder is a serious and debilitating condition where individuals experience severe swings in mood between mania and depression. The episodes of low or elevated mood can last days or months, and the risk of suicide is high. Antidepressants are commonly prescribed to treat or prevent the depressive episodes, but they are not universally effective. Many patients still continue to experience periods of depression even while being treated, and many patients must try several different types of antidepressants before finding one that works for them.

31 May 2012

Interim data from UCLA and NeuroSigma’s eTNS Phase I trial on PTSD, MDD

Today, at the 52nd annual New Clinical Drug Evaluation Unit (NCDEU) Conference in Arizona, Ian Cook, M.D., Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and a Senior Medical Advisor to NeuroSigma, Inc., presented the results from the first 6-subject cohort of a 10-subject Phase I open-label clinical trial studying the effects of external trigeminal nerve stimulation (eTNS) on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and depressive symptoms in Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) as an adjunct to pharmacotherapy.

31 May 2012

AssureRx closes $12.5M Series C financing

AssureRx Health, Inc. today announced the closing of a $12.5 million Series C financing. The personalized medicine company, which provides clinically-relevant information to help physicians select the right drug for individual neuropsychiatric patients, will use the funds to increase commercial activities for its two flagship pharmacogenomic products, GeneSightRx Psychotropic and GeneSightRx® ADHD, as well as next generation product development activities.

31 May 2012

Positive results from Alkermes’ ALKS 5461 phase 1/2 study on MDD

Alkermes plc today presented positive results from the phase 1/2 study of ALKS 5461, a novel drug compound for major depressive disorder (MDD) in patients who have an inadequate response to standard therapies for clinical depression, in an oral session at the 52nd Annual New Clinical Drug Evaluation Unit (NCDEU) Meeting in Phoenix.

30 May 2012