Janssen’s Esketamine Depression Drug Receives Key Panel Vote Is Near FDA Approval

Pharmaceutical organization Janssen recently had its antidepressant treatment esketamine—a chemical cousin of anesthetic ketamine—recommended for U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval. The recommendation was made by a panel of outside experts during a joint meeting of the Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee and Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee.

Specifically, the panel voted 14-2 with one abstention that the potential benefits of esketamine outweigh its risks of being abused. The move is significant, as it represents the first major depression advance since Prozac. To date, three of five large trials used to support the filing . . .