J&J’s big block­buster hope­ful es­ke­t­a­mine scores high for ma­jor de­pres­sion — but side ef­fects haunt re­sults

Can a horse tran­quil­iz­er and no­to­ri­ous par­ty drug be rein­vent­ed as a safe and ef­fec­tive break­through ther­a­py to swift­ly treat ma­jor de­pres­sion and sui­ci­dal think­ing?

J&J $JNJ has been work­ing on that task for years and is now ham­mer­ing away at a piv­otal late-stage pro­gram. This week they’re rolling out some de­tailed Phase II re­sults that un­der­score the po­ten­tial, as well as the prob­lems, that seem in­ex­tri­ca­bly linked to this drug.

Endpoints News

Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.

You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.