Major Depressive Disorder News and Research

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Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a psychiatric condition characterized by depressed mood or anhedonia (significant loss of interest or pleasure). The condition affects more than 15.7 million adults and approximately 3 million adolescents (aged 13 to 17 years) in the USA each year.

Older Americans suffer from full-blown depression: Report

Maureen Duffy's memories of her grandmother are cloudy. Not because of time, but by a condition that cast a shadow over the woman Duffy had visited as a child.

10 Aug 2010

Clinical Data first-quarter gross revenue increases 52% to $6.2 million

Clinical Data, Inc. today announced operational and financial results for the first quarter ended June 30, 2010, noting key accomplishments including the acceptance of the Company's new drug application (NDA) for vilazodone by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the successful completion of a public offering .

9 Aug 2010

Widespread sexual violence, human rights abuses in DRC linked with physical, mental health outcomes

A recent survey of men and women in specific territories of Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo found sexual violence and human rights violations were prevalent and were associated with physical and mental health outcomes, according to an article in the August 4 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on violence and human rights.

5 Aug 2010

Way patients cope with diabetes-related foot ulcers and their levels of depression affect wound healing

People suffering from diabetes-related foot ulcers show different rates of healing according to the way they cope and their psychological state of mind, according to new research by a health psychologist at The University of Nottingham.

3 Aug 2010

Pfizer announces unrestricted access to patient assessment aids for mental disorders

As part of its commitment to improving the quality of patient care, Pfizer today announced that it will make available assessment scales used by physicians and others in the healthcare community to support the evaluation and diagnosis of patients suffering from certain mental disorders.

23 Jul 2010

Gene expression profiling may provide molecular diagnostic tool to diagnose depression

Blood tests have been extremely important tools aiding doctors in making medical diagnoses and in guiding the treatment of many diseases. However, psychiatry is one area of medicine where there are few diagnostic blood tests.New scientific fields may someday generate blood tests that can be used for these purposes. Some of the areas under increasingly intensive study are genetics, the study of variations in the genes that can be extracted from blood cells, and genomics like proteomics, the measurement of the levels of specific proteins in the blood, and gene expression profiling, which measures the levels of RNA produced from DNA as an indication of the level of the "activity" of particular genes.

23 Jul 2010

Caraco Pharmaceutical Laboratories begins marketing bupropion hydrochloride extended release tablets

Caraco Pharmaceutical Laboratories, Ltd. has started shipping bupropion hydrochloride extended release tablets. This product was recently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Sun Pharma's Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA). These bupropion hydrochloride extended release tablets, 100 mg, 150 mg, and 200 mg, are therapeutically equivalent to GlaxoSmithKline's Wellbutrin SR® Extended Release tablets.

22 Jul 2010

Actavis Group receives FDA approval to market Bupropion HCl SR tablets

Actavis Group, the international generic pharmaceuticals company, today announced that it has received approval from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration to market Bupropion HCl Extended-Release tablets 100mg and 200mg. Distribution of the product will commence immediately.

22 Jul 2010

Forest Laboratories reports first-quarter diluted EPS of $0.39

Forest Laboratories, Inc., an international pharmaceutical manufacturer and marketer, announced that diluted earnings per share equaled $0.39 in the first quarter of fiscal 2011. Excluding the charge related to the United States Department of Justice investigations described below, and a charge of $50.0 million, or $0.17 per share net of tax, for a new product licensing fee, non-GAAP earnings per share for the first fiscal quarter were $0.95 per share.

20 Jul 2010

People with alcohol-related problems find comfort in speaking to clergy: Study

Persons with alcohol problems are finding comfort in speaking about their situation to clergy, a new study shows. Among 1,910 people with any alcohol-related problems, 14.7 percent said they used clergy services.The study, from researchers at the University of Michigan Health System and Saint Louis University, also indicates the majority of those who used services from clergy also used professional services at some point; only 0.5 percent used clergy services exclusively for their alcohol use-related problem.

15 Jul 2010

FDA grants approval for first generic version of Effexor XR antidepressant capsules

On June 28, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first generic version of Effexor XR capsules (venlafaxine hydrochloride) to treat major depressive disorder.

30 Jun 2010

Increased follow-up care proves key to helping depressed patients feel better

New data released by two non-profit health care organizations, MN Community Measurement and the Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement, indicate that Minnesota providers only slightly improved their quality of care for patients with depression from a year ago, but that new programs that increase clinic contact with the patient demonstrate the potential for much better results moving forward.

28 Jun 2010

AstraZeneca, Targacept commence enrollment in TC-5214 Phase 3 clinical development for MDD

AstraZeneca and Targacept, Inc., today announced the enrollment of the first patient in the Phase 3 clinical development program for TC-5214, a nicotinic channel blocker.

23 Jun 2010

Excessive sleepiness more common in the U.S. than in Europe: Research

Excessive sleepiness is more common in the U.S. than in Europe, which raises concerns for public health and safety, according to a research abstract that will be presented Tuesday, June 8, 2010, in San Antonio, Texas, at SLEEP 2010, the 24th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC.

8 Jun 2010

St. Jude Medical's Epiducer lead delivery system for neurostimulation therapy receives CE Mark approval

St. Jude Medical, Inc., a global medical device company, today announced European CE Mark approval of its new Epiducer™ lead delivery system for neurostimulation therapy. Unveiled at the Neurosurgery 2010 Congress in Lyon, France, the Epiducer lead delivery system is the first of its kind, allowing introduction of S-Series perc-paddle leads as well as multiple lead arrays through a single percutaneous entry point.

27 May 2010

Combination therapy improves patients with depression symptoms: Study

New data presented today at the American Psychiatric Association's annual meeting suggests a benefit to combining L-methylfolate, a prescription medical food called Deplin, with an antidepressant at the start of treatment. This retrospective analysis showed a significantly greater improvement in depression symptoms in a shorter period of time, when patients with Major Depressive Disorder were started on combination therapy.

25 May 2010

Obesity is a risk factor for depressive symptoms

Researchers, led by Kerri Boutelle, PhD, associate professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have found that obesity is a risk factor for depressive symptoms, but not for clinical depression, suggesting that weight status could play a part in the development of depression in some adolescent girls.