The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Johnson & Johnson’s ketamine-derived nasal spray Spravato to treat those with severe depression, the company said on Tuesday.
The drug was first approved in 2019 in combination with antidepressants to treat major depressive disorder.
This new approval allows for Spravato to be a standalone treatment for adults who have had a poor response to antidepressants.
According to J&J, approximately 21 million adults struggle with major depressive disorder , and one-third of these adults don’t have success with antidepressant treatment. As a result, their quality of life has been significantly reduced, an issue that can be attributed partly to treatment-resistant depression, the company says….