Sage Therapeutics scraps Parkinson's drug... - Cure Parkinson's
Sage Therapeutics scraps Parkinson's drug development after treatment fails mid-stage study
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zuranolone seemed to help with postpartum depression but was not effective for other forms of depression
"Could zuranolone work for other forms of depression?
Sage Therapeutics sought FDA approval to use zuranolone for major depressive disorder but failed to gain it because of mixed clinical trial results.
“The clinical trial results for zuranolone for postpartum depression showed a significant drop in the rating scale used to gauge depressive symptoms and saw improvement within three days of treatment, which is astounding,” Dr. Furey says. “But when they looked at it for major depressive disorder, they didn’t see that. To me, that suggests that the biology of postpartum depression is completely different from major depression, even if the symptoms are similar.”"
How this medication works:
How does zuranolone work?
Zuranolone is a synthetic form of allopregnanolone, a naturally occurring neurosteroid that the body makes from the hormone progesterone. Allopregnanolone helps the GABA-A receptors, which regulate mood and behavior, work a little better, Dr. Furey explains.
“And that leads to calming, antidepressant properties,” Dr. Furey says. “When a woman has postpartum depression, she doesn’t have enough allopregnanolone and her GABA-A receptors aren’t firing right, which is what makes her irritable, anxious, and depressed, among other symptoms,” Dr. Furey says.