NEW PHARMACOLOGICAL STRATEGY AGAINST RESISTANT DEPRESSION

Description

Depression is an illness that affects more than 200 million people today, and its incidence is increasing, affecting more than twice as many women as men in all age groups and regardless of location. Currently, although new types of drugs are being developed, classic antidepressants such as Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) are still used as first-line drugs due to their adherence rates and fewer side effects. Unfortunately, the available pharmacological treatments have not proven to be very effective, with almost 50% of patients presenting what is called treatment-resistant depression. In this invention, an augmentation strategy has been tested based on the pharmacological combination of an SSRI, Fluoxetine, with the N-terminal fragment of Galanin, an endogenous peptide present in the central nervous system and which can interact with the serotonergic system in such a way that it enhances the effects of antidepressants in animal models of resistant depression.

Advantages

Among the advantages of the drug combination strategy of GAL(1-15) with FLX is that it involves administering an already tested drug with an endogenous peptide so that side effects and toxicity are minimal. In addition, since SSRIs are drugs commonly used as the first choice, this combination would avoid polymedication and a change in the type of antidepressant. Another highlight aspect would be the lack of need for hospital administration.

Uses and Applications

The present invention is within the field of biomedicine and relates to the use of the pharmacological combination of GAL (1-15)+FLX as a therapy against treatment-resistant depression.