HealthDay News – Zuranolone improves symptoms of depression in women with postpartum depression, as measured by the 17-point Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAMD-17) score, according to a study published online June 30 in JAMA Psychiatry .
Kristina M. Deligiannidis, MD, of Zucker Hillside Hospital in Glen Oaks and the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research at Northwell Health in Manhasset – both in New York, and colleagues conducted a randomized, outpatient study in women ages 18 to 45 , no more than six months after birth, with postpartum depression and a baseline HAMD-17 value of 26 or greater. Participants were randomly assigned to either placebo or orally administered zuranolone given orally every evening for two weeks (76 and 77 participants, respectively).
The researchers observed a significant improvement in the HAMD-17 score by day 15 from baseline with zuranolone versus placebo (-17.8 versus -13.6; difference -4.2). From the third to the 45th day, persistent differences in the HAMD-17 scores that favor zuranolone were observed (differences –2.7 and –4.1, respectively). On day 15, there were persistent differences in favor of zuranolone in response to HAMD-17 (odds ratio 2.63), HAMD-17 score remission (odds ratio 2.53), change from baseline on the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale Score (difference, -4.6) and Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiety score (difference, −3.9). One patient in each group experienced a serious adverse event. Due to an adverse event, one patient in the zuranolone group and none in the placebo group discontinued treatment.
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“These encouraging results are an important step in efforts to develop a novel treatment option for patients suffering from this widespread disease,” Deligiannidis said in a statement.
Several authors disclosed financial ties to pharmaceutical companies, including Sage Therapeutics, which makes zuranolone and funded the study. One author reports on a pending patent for the use of neuroactive steroids in the treatment of postpartum depression.
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Subjects:
Depression Neurobehavioral Disorders Women’s Health
