The US Food and Drug Administration has approved the medication zuranolone for the treatment of postpartum depression.
It's estimated that each year in the United States, more than 400,000 babies are born to mothers who are depressed. Without any treatment, postpartum depression can last for months or even years, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.In February, drugmakers Biogen and Sage Therapeutics, Inc.
, a neuroactive steroid that is a metabolite of the hormone progesterone. Levels of allopregnanolone can rise dramatically during pregnancy and then abruptly drop after childbirth, potentially contributing to postpartum depression. Postpartum depression "is often underdiagnosed and undertreated. With the FDA's decision today, we may be able to reverse this and help many more women in need," Deligiannidis said., found that among 151 women with severe postpartum depression, the patients taking daily zuranolone at 30 milligrams for two weeks experienced greater reductions in their depressive symptoms compared with those taking a placebo.
"It will be an important tool in treating postpartum depression. Rapidly acting antidepressant therapies are needed and this would be the first oral drug formulation of a rapidly acting antidepressant. That is a very big deal for moving the bar forward to improve treatment options for women with postpartum depression," Meltzer-Brody said in the email.
"It needs to be clear that it originally was established as having efficacy mainly with people who had severe depression," she said. "Also, there are significant health disparities in the rates of postpartum depression, much higher rates for those living in poverty and minoritized populations."
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