Ruta Nonacs MD, PhD discusses a new medication that may play a significant role in the treatment of postpartum depression in this article.
Dr. Nonacs summarizes the recent trial results released from SAGE-217 and presents multiple discussion points that the reproductive psychiatric community needs to be thinking about.
The company, SAGE, has recently received FDA approval for a medication, called brexanolone, to treat postpartum depression. This medication is novel in that it rapidly improves postpartum depression in a few days, rather than 4-6 weeks like traditional antidepressants. Unfortunately, this medication must be given by intravenous infusion in an inpatient hospital setting. This is both costly, and time-consuming, and we have no data on its safety while breastfeeding. There is also further criticism about brexanolone regarding the results of the study. Now SAGE is in phase 3 trial for an oral form of allopregnanolone analog hoping it will yield similarly quick results. To learn more about allopregnanolone, see our instagram post about it.
Written by Nichelle Haynes, DO, this blog post intends to amplify the voices of Black people in our community and provide you with resources for ways to support Black people around you.
Read Blog Post