New Targets, New Hope: Rapid Advances in Novel Pharmacotherapy for Depression

Depression is a disabling illness, and currently available treatments are inadequate to address this large public health burden. For decades, there was little change in the mechanism of action of medications being developed for depression. Recent years have witnessed a rapid increasing the number of novel antidepressant candidates in clinical development. The current talk will consider recent advancements in mechanistically novel treatments for depression and treatment-resistant depression (TRD), beginning with ketamine. Recent work concerning agents that target the KCNQ potassium channel in the brain, as well as classic psychedelic agents, will be discussed. Methodological advances, such as neuroimaging, will also be touched on briefly.