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Author: Admin | 2025-04-28
The FDA just approved the first-ever “fast-acting” drug to treat clinical depression. The drug, Auvelity, from Axsome Therapeutics claims to start working within one week.Clinical trials have found the drug to be safe and quickly effective in helping patients experiencing depression. A new medication called Auvelity was just FDA-approved to treat major depressive disorder (MDD), also known as clinical depression, in as little as one week. The new “fast-acting” oral drug for clinical depression, from Axsome Therapeutics, could change the way we treat mental health. The medication is the first of its kind and was granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation by the FDA. Auvelity is an N-methyl D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, marking the first new type of medication to be approved for clinical depression in 60 years. We chatted with experts to break down what makes this drug different than the rest of the SSRIs on the market—and why it’s such a game-changer. What is Auvelity? Auvelity is the first and only fast-acting oral treatment approved for statistically significant improvement in depressive symptoms in just one week compared to a placebo. The new medication is comprised of the two drugs dextromethorphan and bupropion, and should be available this year, but the price has yet to be announced. In short, most antidepressant drugs work on the same neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin, but Auvelity focuses on glutamate receptors instead, Dan V. Iosifescu, M.D., professor of psychiatry at NYU Langone Health, a co-author on both the studies for Auvelity, and on the advisory board for this new drug tells Prevention.He explains that for nearly 50 years there was nothing different in the science when it came to combating depression with medication. Then, there was a breakthrough with a medication called ketamine, which was able to work on a different mechanism within the brain to act as an antidepressant. The issue was that ketamine is somewhat addictive, and an FDA-approved version of it was only available in doctor’s offices with many restrictions. Researchers set out to find a pill people could take at home that was safer but acted on the same receptor, says Dr. Iosifescu. That’s when they started looking at dextromethorphan, an older drug that works similarly but was metabolized in the body very quickly. He explains that if researchers could pair the drug with something that stayed it in the body longer, they could harness the brain benefits and use it to improve depressive symptoms. That’s when doctors paired it with bupropion, an existing antidepressant, which was able to allow dextromethorphan to metabolize slower in the body. This new drug comes just after research indicated depression may not be a chemical imbalance at all—or as closely linked to serotonin as we once thought. “We see depression to be much more complicated than a chemical imbalance, but involving neuroplastic changes—the ability for the brain to rewire itself and change pathways,” explains Tracey Marks, M.D., a general and forensic psychiatrist and owner of Marks Psychiatry. Dr. Marks suggests that current medications work as
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