Next Generation Antidepressants

The future of mood-disorder research: covering identification of new therapeutic targets, preclinical models, and medicinal chemistry opportunities.

The World Health Organization defines depression as a primary contributor to the global burden of disease and predicts it will become the second leading cause of death by 2020. The need to develop effective therapies has never been so pressing. Current antidepressant drugs have several limitations. This 2010 book looks at the future of mood-disorder research, covering the identification of new therapeutic targets, establishing new preclinical models, new medicinal chemistry opportunities, and fostering greater understanding of genetic influences. These strategies are likely to help build a better picture of the disease process, and lead to new opportunities for patient stratification and treatment. The ultimate goal for this strand of research is to develop more personalized and effective treatments for this chronic and debilitating condition. This is essential reading for all those involved in psychopharmacologic drug development, and mental health clinicians seeking a preview of discoveries soon to influence their practice.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a prevalent, chronic, and recurring mental disorder. This disorder is a leading source of disability worldwide, and is associated with excess mortality rates. Currently approved antidepressants primarily enhance, or otherwise modulate monoaminergic neurotransmission, without curing the disease. Evidence indicates that only one third of patients with MDD achieve remission after treatment with a first-line antidepressant agent. Research in the past two decades has provided valuable insights into the pathophysiological understanding of MDD. However, there is an acknowledged ‘translational gap’ in the field, and few genuinely novel antidepressants have been approved for the treatment of MDD. The Search for Anti Depressants provides readers an in-depth picture of the main pathophysiological mechanisms responsible for the development of MDD in patients. Chapters in the volume focus on possible strategies to spur the discovery of novel antidepressants. This book is an indispensable reference for mental health care providers, students at both under-graduate and graduate levels, and neuroscientists interested in the neurobiology of MDD and recent advances towards the discovery of next generation antidepressants.

This text looks at the future of mood-disorder research, covering identification of new therapeutic targets, preclinical models, and medicinal chemistry opportunities, and increasing understanding of genetic influences.

Get a quick, expert overview of the key issues surrounding best practices and current consensus on major depressive disorder (MDD). This concise resource by Drs. Roger S. McIntyre, Carola Rong, Mehala Subramaniapillai, and Yena Lee consolidates today’s available information on this complex topic into one convenient resource, making it an ideal, easy-to-digest reference for both psychiatrists and primary care physicians. Covers genetics and epigenetics, brain structural abnormalities, cognition, neuroendocrine alterations, and inflammatory abnormalities as they relate to MDD. Contains chapters on psychiatric comorbidity, pharmacological treatments, neuromodulatory treatments, lifestyle interventions, internet-based/technology-based interventions, and glutamate alterations.

The Advances in Pharmacology series presents a variety of chapters from the best authors in the field. Includes the authority and expertise of leading contributors in pharmacology Presents the latest release in the Advances in Pharmacology series

Ketamine for Treatment-Resistant Depression: Neurobiology and Applications provides a simple, evidence-based overview for neuropsychiatrists and translational researchers on this medication, its mechanisms of actions, eligibility of patients for treatment, and the preparation and implementation of ketamine clinics. Provides efficacy research on ketamine as a treatment for depression Identifies best practices for clinical use, both long-term and acute Discusses the molecular mechanisms and neurobiology of action

Everyone knows that antidepressant drugs are miracles of modern medicine. Professor Irving Kirsch knew this as well as anyone. But, as he discovered during his research, there is a problem with what everyone knows about antidepressant drugs. It isn't true. How did antidepressant drugs gain their reputation as a magic bullet for depression? And why has it taken so long for the story to become public? Answering these questions takes us to the point where the lines between clinical research and marketing disappear altogether. Using the Freedom of Information Act, Kirsch accessed clinical trials that were withheld, by drug companies, from the public and from the doctors who prescribe antidepressants. What he found, and what he documents here, promises to bring revolutionary change to the way our society perceives, and consumes, antidepressants. The Emperor's New Drugs exposes what we have failed to see before: depression is not caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain; antidepressants are significantly more dangerous than other forms of treatment and are only marginally more effective than placebos; and, there are other ways to combat depression, treatments that don't only include the empty promise of the antidepressant prescription. This is not a book about alternative medicine and its outlandish claims. This is a book about fantasy and wishful thinking in the heart of clinical medicine, about the seductions of myth, and the final stubbornness of facts.