SSRI's, such as Prozac and Paxil, take weeks to work in depression.
But ketamine, a "recreational drug" (slang names: jet, super acid, Special 'K', green, K, cat Valium) and anaesthetic can treat depression within hours, new US research suggests.
Lead researcher Dr Carlos Zarate Junior, head of the mood and anxiety disorders programme at NIMH, said: "Within 110 minutes, half of the patients given ketamine showed a 50% decrease in symptoms."
By the end of day one, he added, 71% had responded to the drug.
And at this point the team found 29% of these patients were nearly symptom free.
In this small study the researchers also discovered one dose lasted for at least a week in more than one-third of the participants.
Source: Archives of General Psychiatry, BBC News
Insider's view: this is both a threat and an opportunity for Big Pharma. The serotonin model has made them a fortune! Look at Prozac and the copycats.
Some of Big Pharma's marketeers may see this research as a threat; undermining their carefully crafted SSRI "story".
What now if another paradigm has been uncovered by this innovative research?
At least there might be some new "ketamine analog" molecules researched.
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