(Press-News.org) For those suffering from treatment-resistant depression, the anaesthetic drug ketamine offers hope, but it has side effects and can be costly to access – a University of Otago-led clinical trial may change that.
Working in collaboration with New Zealand’s Douglas Pharmaceuticals, researchers have conducted a trial of ketamine in an extended-release tablet form.
The study, published in prestigious international journal Nature Medicine, involved 168 adults for whom regular anti-depressant therapy repeatedly failed. They either took a range of oral doses of ketamine or a placebo for 12 weeks.
Professor Paul Glue, Otago’s Hazel Buckland Chair in Psychological Medicine, says the highest dose of ketamine – 180mg – showed significant improvement in depressive symptoms, compared with patients who received placebo.
“Ketamine can be given by injection or nasal spray, but these methods can leave people feeling spaced out, sedated, and increases their blood pressure.
“This study shows the extended-release ketamine tablets are safe and effective, and overall, tolerability was good, with participants reporting minimal side effects,” he says.
Douglas Pharmaceuticals is now seeking the interest of partners to complete registrational clinical trials and prepare for commercialisation of the tablets.
“We have found there are many people, here in New Zealand and around the world, who have treatment-resistant depression, and who have no or very little chance of accessing ketamine.
“Because most doses of this tablet formulation can be taken at home, this is potentially a much cheaper and convenient option for these patients compared with weekly clinic visits for ketamine injections or nasal sprays.”
Ketamine has been used legally by doctors in New Zealand since the 1970s for sedation and pain relief, but it has been classified as an illegal drug for recreational use since the 1980s.
Professor Glue says having the drug in a tablet form reduces the risk of abuse as the manufacturing process makes them difficult to manipulate.
END
Trial offers hope for cheaper, more tolerable, ketamine treatment
2024-06-24
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Fertility treatments could get boost from stem cells
2024-06-24
An unexpectedly versatile and regenerative stem cell in early embryos may be key to creating new effective fertility treatments, suggests a new study in mice from the University of Copenhagen.
It probably will not surprise anyone that pregnancy is a very complicated process. First, a sperm cell must find its way and fertilize an egg in the fallopian tube, after which the egg begins to divide. After about five days, the egg becomes a blastocyst, which eventually develops into a fetus.
But for more and more people, fertility is becoming increasingly harder to achieve due to various factors ...
Ketamine slow-release tablet reduces symptoms of severe depression: Clinical trial
2024-06-24
A new tablet form of ketamine has shown promise in treating severe depression, offering a potential alternative to existing clinic-based treatments that can be expensive and lacking in convenience for some patients.
Unlike the injectable and nasal spray alternatives that require clinicians to monitor patients for two hours while side effects subside, the slow-release tablet form can be taken safely at home without medical supervision and with negligible side effects.
Led by Professor Paul Glue of University of Otago, researchers from UNSW Sydney and the affiliated Black Dog Institute (BDI) collaborated with colleagues from ...
The future takes flight: Autonomous eVTOLs transforming air mobility
2024-06-24
In recent years, a new era of transportation innovation has unfolded with the introduction of autonomous electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircrafts. These advanced air mobility (AAM) systems are poised to revolutionize urban and regional transportation by offering efficient, sustainable, and rapid transit solutions, potentially transforming daily commutes and cargo deliveries alike.
eVTOL technology, which enables aircrafts to ascend, hover, and land vertically, has become a focus for both academic research and commercial ventures due to its numerous advantages ...
One bad apple spoils the barrel: New study uncovers multiple molecular subgroups in liver cancer with most aggressive driving clinical outcomes
2024-06-24
Singapore, 24 June 2024 – A study led by clinician-scientists and scientists from the National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS) and A*STAR’s Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) and funded by the National Research Foundation Singapore (NRF) has discovered unexpected molecular heterogeneity even within the same liver tumours. More than 40% of HCC harbours more than one molecular subtype within the same tumour and in these, the clinical outcomes for the patients are best predicted by the most aggressive subtype. This phenomenon, termed the “bad apple effect”, has significant implications on the understanding of liver cancer and suggests that a more holistic sampling ...
Rising health care prices are driving unemployment and job losses
2024-06-24
New Haven, Conn. — Rising health care prices in the U.S. are leading employers outside the health care sector to reduce their payroll and decrease their number of employees, according to a new study co-authored by Yale economist Zack Cooper.
The study, published June 24 as a working paper by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), found that when health care prices increased, non-health care employers responded by reducing their payroll and cutting the jobs of middle-class workers. For the average county, a 1% increase in health ...
NUTRITION 2024 press materials available now
2024-06-24
Press materials are now available for NUTRITION 2024, the annual flagship meeting of the American Society for Nutrition (ASN). Top nutrition scientists and practitioners from around the world will gather to share the latest research findings on food and nutrition during the meeting, held in Chicago from June 29–July 2.
Register for a press pass to attend NUTRITION 2024 in person or to access embargoed press materials before the meeting. Explore the meeting schedule, poster presentations, poster theater flash sessions and oral presentations to see all the exciting research ...
Study Shows Stricter Alcohol Policies Are Associated with Reduction in Homicides
2024-06-24
Ann Arbor, June 24, 2024 – Alcohol consumption is involved in a large proportion of homicides and suicides each year in the United States, but there has been limited evidence on how policies targeting alcohol use influence violence. A statistical analysis in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, published by Elsevier, indicates that more restrictive alcohol policy environments are associated with a reduction in specific states’ homicide rates.
Lead investigator James P. Murphy, PhD, RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA, says, "Previous studies have found a significant relationship between some state-level ...
Kennesaw State University researcher to analyze electromagnetic waves with help of grant
2024-06-24
The stereotype of mathematics and mathematicians involves a solitary pursuit of knowledge, but Eric Stachura knows better.
The Kennesaw State University assistant professor of mathematics works on quantitative analysis of electromagnetic waves and keeps a collaborative research practice with colleagues near and far. That partnership has led to a three-year grant worth $223,206 from the Army Research Office, a director of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory.
“It is a very collaborative subject, ...
NIH and National Science Foundation to award $15.4 million for RNA research
2024-06-24
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has partnered with the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) to provide approximately $15.4 million over three years for research into the structures, functions and interactions of ribonucleic acid (RNA), as well as the creation of RNA-based technologies. RNA sequencing and the mapping of RNA modifications have gained significant momentum in the genomics community in recent years, with a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine outlining a roadmap for the field to build technology and infrastructure to allow researchers to more completely study and catalog RNA and its modifications.
“A ...
Study examines acceptability of teleneurology across neurological conditions
2024-06-24
INDIANAPOLIS – One of the first studies to examine patient acceptability of teleneurology and determine factors influencing acceptability across neurological conditions, has found teleneurology was highly acceptable across the full range of patients with different neurological diagnoses, including headache, movement disorders and other neurological symptoms and diagnoses. The study also determined that the more medical complexity -- having additional diseases -- was associated with increased patient satisfaction with teleneurology.
Older patients were as accepting of teleneurology as younger patients, individuals often viewed as more ...