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esketamine

Esketamine Failed Cost-Effectiveness vs. Cheaper TRD Options at $50K/QALY

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Photoreal illustration of a depression-treatment decision with cost and outcome imagery, conveying healthcare-economic decision-making.

Intranasal esketamine — FDA-approved for treatment-resistant depression in 2019 — failed cost-effectiveness benchmarks against four cheaper third-line options in a 2026 Hong Kong modeling study, with incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) of US$134,127 to US$312,750 per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) at a US$50,000/QALY willingness-to-pay (WTP) threshold.1 Combination antidepressant therapy was the most cost-effective strategy modeled. Research Highlights …

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Esketamine Can Trigger Trauma Re-Experiencing in PTSD

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Photoreal illustration of a patient receiving nasal spray with overlay of trauma memory imagery, conveying esketamine + PTSD interaction.

A 2026 retrospective case series of 22 adults with treatment-resistant depression and comorbid PTSD found that trauma re-experiencing during intranasal esketamine disappeared over later sessions in 72.7% of patients, while 27.3% stopped esketamine because the flashbacks persisted.1 Research Highlights Flashbacks usually faded, but not always: In 16 of 22 patients (72.7%), esketamine-related trauma re-experiencing disappeared …

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Ketamine Addiction After One Therapeutic Dose: How Rare Is It?

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Stylized illustration evoking the tension between ketamine's clinical promise for depression and its abuse liability, framed in muted rose and amber tones for the addiction topic.

Ketamine and its S-enantiomer esketamine (sold as Spravato) are now established treatments for treatment-resistant depression and acute suicidality. The standard safety pitch from sponsors and clinics: at single sub-anesthetic doses, in supervised settings, addiction risk is minimal. A new case report in BJPsych Open documents a patient for whom that pitch failed catastrophically — and …

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Esketamine Nasal Spray Effective Last Resort for Treatment-Resistant Depression (TRD)? (2023 Study)

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Treatment-resistant depression (TRD) represents a significant challenge in mental health care, often leaving patients and clinicians in a difficult position after traditional treatments fail. Recent studies, including a prospective, observational study at a leading medical center, have brought new hope in the form of esketamine, a novel antidepressant. Highlights: Esketamine’s Mechanism: Esketamine, the S-enantiomer of …

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30+ New Antidepressants (2018): Drugs In Clinical Trials

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Research suggests that upwards of 16 million American adults (6.7% of the adult population) are afflicted with major depressive disorder (MDD), a neuropsychiatric condition characterized by overwhelming sadness, behavioral changes, sleep disturbances, and cognitive deficits.  As of current, depression is the leading cause of disability in the United States among individuals between the ages of …

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20 New Antidepressants In The Pipeline (2015): Drugs In Clinical Trials

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For individuals in the United States between the age of 15 and 44, major depression is the leading cause of disability.  Major depression is often a heritable condition, caused by maladaptive genes getting transferred across generations.  That said, not everyone diagnosed with major depressive disorder inherited the condition from ancestors or should be blaming their …

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