FDA Approves Ketamine Nasal Spray For Depression

Reuters reports:

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration expanded approval for Johnson & Johnson’s nasal spray, Spravato, to allow it to be used as a standalone treatment for patients with severe depression, the company said on Tuesday. The ketamine-derived drug was first approved in 2019 to be used in combination with antidepressants, and later for patients experiencing suicidal thoughts or actions.

“Now that it is also available as a monotherapy, healthcare providers have the freedom to further personalize treatment plans based on individual needs,” Gregory Mattingly, founding partner of St. Charles Psychiatric Associates, said. J&J said that the mechanism by which esketamine exerts its antidepressant effect is unknown. Due to the potential risk of misuse, Spravato is only available through a restricted program.

Read the full article. In 2023, the FDA issued a separate warning about the misuse of a different version of ketamine that was being sold via telemedicine.



The FDA says esketamine, an antidepressant derived from the anesthetic and party drug ketamine, can now be prescribed on its own. It was approved in 2019 to treat severe depression.

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— NPR (@npr.org) January 21, 2025 at 5:41 PM

FDA Issues Warning Over Misuse of Ketamine Therapy: Unsupervised treatment — fueled by telemedicine prescriptions — for various psychiatric problems poses a number of health risks, the agency said – The New York Times www.nytimes.com/2023/10/11/h…

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— Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics (@bermaninstitute.bsky.social) October 16, 2023 at 2:54 PM