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Review
. 2023 Jan 14;401(10371):141-153.
doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(22)02080-3. Epub 2022 Dec 16.

Novel and emerging treatments for major depression

Steven Marwaha  1 , Edward Palmer  2 , Trisha Suppes  3 , Emily Cons  2 , Allan H Young  4 , Rachel Upthegrove  5
Affiliations
Review

Novel and emerging treatments for major depression

Steven Marwaha et al. Lancet. .

Abstract

Depression is common, costly, debilitating, and associated with increased risk of suicide. It is one of the leading global public health problems. Although existing available pharmacological treatments can be effective, their onset of action can take up to 6 weeks, side-effects are common, and recovery can require treatment with multiple different agents. Although psychosocial interventions might also be recommended, more effective treatments than those currently available are needed for people with moderate or severe depression. In the past 10 years, treatment trials have developed and tested many new targeted interventions. In this Review, we assess novel and emerging biological treatments for major depressive disorder, evaluate their putative brain and body mechanisms, and highlight how close each might be to clinical use.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of interests SM attended an educational event sponsored by Janssen in 2019. He is an unpaid council member of the British Association of Psychopharmacology. He has grants funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research, UK Research and Innovation, the Medical Research Council, and the Wellcome Trust. RU receives speaker fees from Sunovion, Springer Heathcare, and Vitaris. She receives grant funding from the Medical Research Council (MR/S037675/1), the National Institute for Health and Care Research: Health Technology Assessment (NIHR 127700), and the National Institute of Mental Health (1U01MH124631–01). She is unpaid Honorary General Secretary of the British Association for Psychopharmacology and is the Deputy Editor of The British Journal of Psychiatry. In the past 3 years, TS has received grants from Compass Pathways and Merck. She is a consultant for Sunovion Pharmaceuticals, Merck Research Laboratories, Impel NeuroPharma, Intracellular Therapies, Servier (Australia), and Allergan. She receives royalties from American Psychiatric Association Publishing, Hogrefe Publishing, Jones and Bartlett, and Wolters Kluwer Health (UpToDate). She has financial interests with PsiloTec (stock options). She receives continuing medical education honoraria from the CME Institute (Physicians Postgraduate Press), CMEology, Medscape, and Novus Medical Education. AHY is employed by King's College London. He is an Honorary Consultant for South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (NHS UK) and is Deputy Editor of BJPsych Open. He receives payment for lectures from AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, Lundbeck, Sunovion, Servier, Janssen, Allegan, Bionomics, Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma, COMPASS, Sage, and Novartis. He receives payment for being on advisory boards from Livanova, Janssen, COMPASS, Novartis, and Neurocentrx. He is a consultant for Johnson & Johnson. He is a consultant to Livanova. He has received honoraria for attending advisory boards and presenting talks at meetings organised by LivaNova. He is the Principal Investigator in the Restore-Life VNS Global Prospective, Multi-center, Observational Post-market Study to Assess Short-, Mid- and Long-term Effectiveness and Efficiency of Vagus Nerve Stimulation Therapy (VNS Therapy) as Adjunctive Therapy in Real-world Patients with Difficult to Treat Depression (RESTORE-LIFE) registry study funded by Livanova, ESKETINTRD3004 (“An open-label, long-term, safety and efficacy study of intranasal esketamine in treatment-resistant depression.”), “The effects of psilocybin on cognitive function in healthy participants.”, and “The safety and efficacy of psilocybin in participants with treatment-resistant depression (P-TRD)”. He is the UK Chief Investigator for Novartis Major Depressive Disorder MIJ821A12201. He receives grant funding from the National Institute of Mental Health (USA), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the National Association for Research on Schizophrenia And Depression (USA), the Stanley Medical Research Institute (USA), the Medical Research Council (UK), the Wellcome Trust (UK), the Royal College of Physicians, the British Medical Association (UK), the UBC-VGH Foundation (Canada), the WEDC (Canada), the CCS Depression Research Fund (Canada), Michael Smith Health Research BC (Canada), the National Institute for Health and Care Research (UK), and Janssen (UK). EC and EP declare no competing interests.

Comment in

  • Treatments for major depression.
    Braillon A, Fried EI, Cristea IA, Cosgrove L, Naudet F. Braillon A, et al. Lancet. 2023 Jun 24;401(10394):2110. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(23)00953-4. Lancet. 2023. PMID: 37355287 No abstract available.
  • Treatments for major depression.
    Terao T. Terao T. Lancet. 2023 Jun 24;401(10394):2110-2111. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(23)00951-0. Lancet. 2023. PMID: 37355288 No abstract available.
  • Treatments for major depression.
    Myles PS, Kulkarni J, Nagele P. Myles PS, et al. Lancet. 2023 Jun 24;401(10394):2111. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(23)00950-9. Lancet. 2023. PMID: 37355289 No abstract available.

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