Despite safety signals, esketamine nears rare approval in depression

1 June 2018
2019_biotech_test_vial_discovery_big

The Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) unit Janssen appears to have one of the hottest prospects in neuroscience on its hands in the shape of esketamine, but that it not to say it is proving immune to encountering the challenges of this tricky therapy area.

While a nasal spray formulation of the drug showed impressive efficacy results in two long-term Phase III clinical studies in treatment-resistant depression (TRD), there were some notable issues on the safety side.

These studies, one that showed a delayed time to relapse and a second that provided evidence of safe long-term use of esketamine, were presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology (ASCP) in Florida on Thursday.

This article is accessible to registered users, to continue reading please register for free.  A free trial will give you access to exclusive features, interviews, round-ups and commentary from the sharpest minds in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology space for a week. If you are already a registered user please login. If your trial has come to an end, you can subscribe here.

Login to your account

Become a subscriber

 

£820

Or £77 per month

Subscribe Now
  • Unfettered access to industry-leading news, commentary and analysis in pharma and biotech.
  • Updates from clinical trials, conferences, M&A, licensing, financing, regulation, patents & legal, executive appointments, commercial strategy and financial results.
  • Daily roundup of key events in pharma and biotech.
  • Monthly in-depth briefings on Boardroom appointments and M&A news.
  • Choose from a cost-effective annual package or a flexible monthly subscription
The Pharma Letter is an extremely useful and valuable Life Sciences service that brings together a daily update on performance people and products. It’s part of the key information for keeping me informed

Chairman, Sanofi Aventis UK

Companies featured in this story

More ones to watch >


Today's issue

Company Spotlight





More Features in Biotechnology