(CNN) The Food and Drug Administration put the experimental drug esketamine (also known as ketamine) on the fast track to official approval for use in treating major depression, Janssen Pharmaceutical announced Tuesday. This designated "breakthrough therapy" would offer psychiatrists a new method for treating patients with suicidal tendencies and would qualify as the first new treatment for major depressive disorder in about half a century. As described in a published report by Coffman, she used ketamine when treating a patient who had treatment-resistant depression; none of the antidepressants he had tried alleviated his symptoms. Janssen is working on clinical trials for two indications for esketamine: one for treatment-resistant depression and another for depression with suicidal thoughts. A concern with using ketamine to treat depression is that it can reverse tolerance to opioids, Coffman said.

Source: CNN August 17, 2016 22:41 UTC