Will J&J TRANSFORM Esketamine Into A Viable Depression Treatment?

The efficacy of esketamine is already well established; the main hurdle for Johnson & Johnson to overcome is demonstrating that a recreational drug can be safely formulated into an appropriate prescription therapy, controlling the risks for abuse, addiction, and bladder toxicity.

J&J is developing an inhaled, intranasal formulation of esketamine as a potential adjunctive treatment for major depressive disorder patients who do not respond adequately to conventional antidepressants. The development of esketamine is a direct result of previous data suggesting the rapid and large antidepressant effect of the recreational drug ketamine. Ketamine is a racemic mixture that acts as an N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist