KEY POINTS
- Ketamine is a promising new treatment for depression, researchers say.
- The breakthrough research has opened huge opportunities for research into other uses for the drug.
- Allan Kelly, who has suffered from depression his entire life, says ketamine saved him.
Allan Kelly, a 74-year-old retiree from NSW, says he has suffered from depression his whole life.
Kelly said he had tried every type of treatment in an effort to improve his condition but was never successful.
That's until he tried ketamine, a dissociative anaesthetic that has some hallucinogenic effects, and is commonly known as a party drug.
"I've really had depression all my life, it comes from early childhood problems in families," Kelly told SBS News. "And I can absolutely say that of all the things that I've tried, whether it's pharmacology, whether it's CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy), whether it's ACT (acceptance and commitment therapy), whether it's mental health retreats, whether it's mindfulness, ketamine is the only thing that saved me, along with my wife."
A has been found to be effective for treatment-resistant depression, with a clinical trial for the first time testing the effectiveness of varying doses of the drug.
The trial was led by the University of NSW and the Black Dog Institute and was funded by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council.
University of NSW professor and lead researcher Colleen Loo said one in five people entered remission and a third showed huge improvement in depression symptoms by the end of the trial.
"It is transformative," she said.
What did the ketamine trial find?
The drug works by rapidly promoting nerve cells in the brain to produce proteins that allow connections to be made with adjacent nerve cells, normalising activity in the networks involved with experiencing emotion.
During the trial, 179 people were given two injections of ketamine every week for a month in a clinic where they were monitored for two hours while sedative effects wore off.
Loo said the treatment displayed immense benefits for people who have unsuccessfully tried other treatments.
"It's not a miracle cure. No treatment works for every single person but I would say the majority of people have significant benefit from this."
Trial participants received a flexible dosage, about half to one milligram of ketamine per kilogram they weighed which was eight to 10 times lower than what would be used in party settings.
One in five participants achieved total remission, while a third had their symptoms improve by at least 50 per cent.
University of Otago professor Paul Glue reiterated the study was cognisant of ketamine being an addictive party drug but said the trial did not find any cases of people having cravings for it.
The study excluded people with a history of substance abuse.
Ketamine may prove a treatment of last resort for people living with depression, researchers say. Source: Getty / The Washington Post
How much do ketamine treatments cost?
While ketamine itself is affordable, costing about $5 for off-label usage in Australia, the researchers conceded potential cost barriers lie with associated healthcare.
Loo said the costs come with being in a medically monitored context for a couple of hours for safety reasons which could reach $350 for patients.
"I don't kind of see this as something people do in their office or general clinics," she said.
"It does need to be a specialised treatment with people with particular expertise."
The use of ketamine would also be a last resort measure when all other treatments had failed.
The majority of patients would need to dose ketamine while the episode of depression was present, which can range from several months to years.
Allan Kelly, who said he had depression all his life, said ketamine "is the only thing that saved me". Source: Supplied / Allan Kelly
"It's a very powerful treatment and done well, it's an amazing treatment which has been transformative for many people," Loo said.
Although the trial has been successful, there are side effects that occur after undergoing the treatment.
"Within about five minutes of being injected, people report feeling dissociated or spaced out, people can feel sleepy, lightheaded; skin can feel either numb or tingly, and people can feel dizzy," Glue said.
"This typically peaks within about 15 minutes of an injection.
"It needs to be done in the clinic, and you don't want people moving around for an hour or two afterwards."
Researchers say they will next be looking at larger trials of generic ketamine over longer periods, and refining the safety monitoring of treatment.
- With reporting from SBS News' Ciara Hain and the Australian Associated Press.
