FDA Approves Esketamine Nasal Spray For Hard-To-Treat Depression
Three decades after Prozac arrived, consumers are getting a new kind of antidepressant. The medicine is based on the anesthetic ketamine, which has been used illicitly as a party drug.
The Food and Drug Administration approved the first drug that can relieve depression in hours instead of weeks.
Esketamine, a chemical cousin of the anesthetic and party drug ketamine, represents the first truly new kind of depression drug since Prozac hit the market in 1988.
The FDA's decision came Tuesday, less than a month after a panel of experts advising the agency voted overwhelmingly in favor of approval.
"There has been a long-standing need for additional effective treatments.
