FDA Approves First Oral Medication for Postpartum Depression

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Fridayapproved Zurzuvae (zuranolone), the first oral medication for the treatment of postpartum depression in adults. Zuranolone acts on similar receptors in the brain as the intravenous medication brexanolone, which was the first postpartum depression medication to receive FDA approvalin 2019.“As a perinatal psychiatrist, I see the devastating impact [postpartum depression] has on mothers, particularly on the important mother-infant bond and long-term child development,” Kristina Deligiannidis, M.D., principal investigator of the Zurzuvae clinical program, said in apress release issued by Sage Therapeutics. Zuranolone and brexanolone are both manufactured by Sage Therapeutics.“[W]ith Zurzuvae, we now have an oral treatment option that can provide rapid improvements in depressive symptoms in as early as three days for women with [postpartum depression],” continued Deligiannidis, who is also a professor at the Institute of Behavioral Science at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research in Manhasset, N.Y., and director of Women’s Behavioral Health at Zucker Hillside Hospital.The efficacy of Zurzuvae was demonstrated in two randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials —one of which wasreported July 26 inThe American Journal of Psychiatry. As described in theAJP report, 196 women aged 18 to 45 with severe postpartum depression were assigned to take either zuranolone (50 mg) or placebo pills daily for 14 days. T...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: American Journal of Psychiatry Jennifer Payne Kristina Deligiannidis mother-infant bond postpartum depression SAGE zuranolone Zurzuvae Source Type: research