Article Date: 30 Jun 2011 – 2:00 PDT
Millions of people with severe, treatment-resistant depression could get their lives back by adding an anti-inflammatory drug such as aspirin to their anti-depressant medication, a leading consortium of UK researchers in biological psychiatry, the Psychiatric Research into Inflammation, Immunity and Mood Effects (PRIME), reported at the International Congress of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Brighton.
Dr Carmine Pariante, Reader in Biological Psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College, London, told the Congress that a series of studies published over the last five years now provides sufficiently clear evidence to justify the use of anti inflammatory drugs alongside antidepressant medication.
“This is the first new approach to antidepressant medication for more than 20 years. Despite the urgent need for better drugs for this devastating and disabling disorder, we’ve only had me-too drugs since Prozac, the first SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) was licensed.”
It’s well known that long-term illness is a trigger for depression and that people who suffer from these chronic disorders also have high levels of inflammatory markers known as cytokines. These links have now been shown by clinical trials carried out by PRIME researchers from Brighton, Glasgow and Bristol as well as King’s College, London.
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http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/230065.php
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