A doctor in the town/village of Harrison is using the experimental drug ketamine to treat patients with major depression, as the practice was recently placed on the fast track for approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in August.
Dr. Alan Young, a longtime Westchester County physician who practiced anesthesiology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital in New York City, and was on staff as an anesthesiologist for more than 30 years at White Plains Hospital, began business for Ketamine Medical Solutions of Westchester, located at 450 Mamaroneck Ave., in June.
“When I saw that there was research that showed ketamine treatment can help treat people with depression, I became interested,” said Young, one of two doctors in Westchester to perform the breakthrough treatment. “It provides a way for me to fulfill a need in the community that no one seems to be addressing.”
Traditionally, the generic medication ketamine—the drug is sold under the brand name Ketalar—is mainly used for starting and maintaining anesthesia. The drug is often used as a recreational psychoactive under the name “Special K.”
If the treatment is approved by the FDA, it would offer psychiatrists a new method for treating patients with suicidal ideations, according to Young, and would be the first major breakthrough for treating major depressive disorder in nearly half a century.
There have been a number of studies conducted that have shown that small doses of ketamine can provide fast relief to alleviate treatment-resistant depression, as the drug serves as an artificial nerve cell stimulator. A completed study in May conducted by Janssen Research & Development, as a service of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, determined that there is preliminary clinical evidence to support the breakthrough therapy designation by the FDA for major depressive disorder with imminent risk for suicide.
“Unfortunately, depression is not a disease that can be cured, but it can be completely alleviated with ketamine,” Young said. He also told the Review that the breakthrough treatment for depression will work hand in hand with traditional cognitive therapy, which, according to him, has proven to be more impactful with ketamine. “When patients are really depressed, they can’t take advantage of cognitive therapy. Ketamine gives patients the ability to more effectively talk to a psychiatrist and find out what triggers their depression.”
Cognitive therapy involves the individual working collaboratively with a therapist to develop skills for testing and modifying beliefs, identifying distorted thinking, relating to others in different ways, and changing behaviors.
Young said traditional cognitive therapy without ketamine treatment only provides relief to 30 percent of patients out of the 17 million people nationwide that are suffering from major depressive disorder.
There is no current information on the long-term effects of ketamine use for treating depression.
According to an official from American Psychiatric Association, the organization does not have an official opinion, as of press time, but it is currently studying the impacts of ketamine as a use for treating depression.
Sarah Peddicord, a press officer for the FDA, told the Review that the agency will not comment on investigational uses of medications.
