The Journal of clinical psychiatry
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To summarize the US Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's) review of the safety and effectiveness for pimavanserin, an atypical antipsychotic, for the treatment of hallucinations and delusions associated with Parkinson's disease psychosis. We describe the regulatory and clinical issues important to the FDA's approval of this New Drug Application, with special focus on the risk-benefit balance. We also describe a new labeling feature that presents additional efficacy data to clinicians. ⋯ Pimavanserin is the only FDA-approved treatment for the hallucinations and delusions seen in patients with psychosis of Parkinson's disease. Although pimavanserin appears to have a pharmacologic mechanism that is different from other atypical antipsychotics, concern remained that the increased risk of death seen with antipsychotic use in elderly demented patients, and described in all approved antipsychotic labels, would also occur with pimavanserin. Pimavanserin bears the same boxed warning about the risk of death associated with antipsychotic use in elderly patients with dementia.
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Ketamine is a racemic mixture of the enantiomers R-ketamine and S-ketamine (esketamine). S-ketamine has greater analgesic and anesthetic effects than R-ketamine and is less likely to cause psychotomimetic and other adverse effects. There is therefore an emerging interest favoring the use of S-ketamine over racemic ketamine when the drug is used for analgesia or anesthesia. ⋯ Animal data suggest potential advantages for R-ketamine over S-ketamine. Case reports, case series, and some small randomized controlled trials suggest that single or repeated intravenous infusions (0.2-0.4 mg/kg) or intranasal administrations (28-84 mg) of S-ketamine have antidepressant action in patients with medication-refractory depression and that the observed benefits are similar in magnitude to the antidepressant benefits reported with racemic ketamine. However, there are no direct comparisons between S-ketamine and either R-ketamine or racemic ketamine in depressed patients; therefore, it is not possible to make an informed choice when considering the enantiomers and the racemate for the indication of depression.