Efficacy of Esketamine Nasal Spray Plus Oral Antidepressant Treatment for Relapse Prevention in Patients With Treatment-Resistant Depression: A Randomized Clinical Trial

RCT (n=297) found continued treatment with esketamine and antidepressant (ESAD) demonstrated statistically significant superiority vs antidepressant (AD) and placebo in delaying relapse in patients who had achieved stable remission or stable response after 16 weeks of ESAD

Esketamine and antidepressant treatment decreased the risk of relapse by 51% (HR 0.49; 95% CI, 0.29-0.84) among patients who achieved stable remission and 70% (0.30; 0.16-0.55) among those who achieved stable response compared with antidepressant and placebo treatment.

 

Esketamine nasal spray (Spravato), in conjunction with an oral antidepressant, is licensed in US for the treatment of depression in adults who have tried other antidepressant medicines but have not benefited from them.