The first new antidepressant to hit the market in 32 years is here. Created by Johnson and Johnson and approved by the FDA early this March, the drug, called Spravato™, is administered through a nasal spray as well as an oral pill. It is specifically targeted to those who have treatment-resistant depression as well as in trials to treat suicidal individuals.
Although the dosage won’t make anyone hallucinate, the medication is based off of and chemically similar to Ketamine, the anesthetic found in the party drug Special K. This dissociative drug is often used as a “date-rape” drug because of it’s immobilizing effects.
The last time there was a breakthrough in drug treatment for depression was in 1987 when Prozac and other classes of SSRIs were released.
The Food and Drug Administration Division of Psychiatry Products Director, Tiffany Farchione, M.D. states on FDA.gov, “There has been a long-standing need for additional effective treatments for treatment-resistant depression, a serious and life-threatening condition”
According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, there are more than 3 million cases of major depressive disorder (MDD) reported in the US each year. Treatment-resistant depression, which affects about a third of patients with MDD, is a type that doesn’t improve even after treatment with at least 2 different types of medication.
According to a survey of 30 Mercer students, 86 percent believe that depression is becoming an epidemic in college. Sixty percent of the student surveyed self-reported that they currently have or have had some form of depression. Out of those students, 30 percent have taken medication for it, with 17 percent reporting having taken three or more types.
Amanda Canto, a criminal justice major in her second semester at Mercer recently swapped her depression medications, Duloxetine and Gabapentin, for a natural supplement called Vitamin B12 due to side effects.
She explains, “It would have these weird side effects that made my skin crawl, and literally my limbs would just jerk randomly, so I would be driving and all of sudden my foot would just jerk up. It didn’t do anything for my depression. It just made feel sleepy.”
After the poor experience with antidepressants, she came to the conclusion that “Everyone finds their own path with depression and anxiety. I found it, but it’s not through medication.”
The most common non-medication treatments for depression are exercise and B vitamins. But as a recent article in The Washington Post by Jill U. Adams explained, “Exercise seems to help alleviate depression, but not for everybody.” For those who cannot find relief, the new medication may be a good option.
Lea D. Knight, Vice President of Finance at Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Supply Chain, however, is hopeful for this new antidepressant. She says, “Spravato could help as many as [five million] adults with treatment-resistant depression.”
But the price tag for the new medication may stop some people in their tracks. Johnson & Johnson says that depending on the dose, each treatment will cost between $590-$885 during the first month, and then half that during the following months.
There are other considerations, too, including the way in which the drug will be administered. Due to its status as an often abused substance, the drug is planned to be given once or twice a week at a special Risk Evaluation Mitigation Strategy (REMS) certified location.
The dose will be too low to induce hallucinations. However, the FDA states that due to “the risk of sedation and dissociation, patients must be monitored by a health care provider for at least two hours after receiving their Spravato dose”
According to Knight, the drug was to be shipped the week of March 11.
