By Reuters/saumya Joseph and Natalie Rahhal Deputy Health Editor For Dailymail.com
Published: 20:18 GMT, 12 February 2019 | Updated: 23:07 GMT, 12 February 2019
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A US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory panel green lighted a nasal spray that derived from ketamine - a sometimes-party drug - as a therapy for treatment-resistant depression on Tuesday.
Johnson & Johnson's controversial experimental medication, esketamine, is not identical to the party drug, but has met some resistance due to concerns over its abuse.
Yet, in recent years, studies have increasingly shown that ketamine - in its unadulterated form, which is used as a sedative - has promise in treating depression in patients for whom other drugs failed.
Getting the go-ahead from the panel marks a major step toward an approved ketamine therapy for depression, a source of hope for some patients and their doctors and concern for other clinicians.
Johnson & Johnson's nasal spray, esketamine, is a depression drug made from a core part of the sedative and party drug known illicitly as 'special K.' Now, an FDA panel has given it the green light, a major step for a promising- but controversial - treatment for stubborn depression
The panel voted 14-2
