New J&J Anti-depressant Related to "Special K" Party Drug

Johnson & Johnson said it plans to seek approvals for 11 new drugs by 2017, including a new type of treatment for patients with depression that have failed to benefit from standard medications.

The intranasal drug, called esketamine, is closely related to a pediatric anesthetic called ketamine that has been shown in academic studies to rapidly ease symptoms in such patients, including a reduction in suicidal thoughts. Ketamine is also the active ingredient of the mood-altering party drug known as "Special K."

J&J, which is testing its tweaked version of ketamine in mid-stage trials, said initial findings have been promising.

Yale researchers have described ketamine as the biggest breakthrough against depression in the past half century, theorizing that the anesthetic helps rejuvenate connections between brain cells called synapses that have been damaged by stress and depression.

"The results have been truly remarkable," Husseini Manji, head of neuroscience at Johnson & Johnson, said of the research done at Yale on ketamine. He noted that several of the ketamine researchers have been hired by J&J to help develop the company's esketamine spray.

The Yale research shows ketamine takes effect within hours. By contrast, standard anti-psychotics, including Johnson & Johnson's widely used Risperdal pill, can take weeks or months to improve symptoms.

But the Yale researchers have cautioned that ketamine can cause short-term psychosis if used in large doses.

J&J spokesman Greg Panico said the company's altered form of ketamine is given in small doses through an intranasal spray.

J&J said it will also seek approvals by 2017 for drugs to treat hepatitis C, immune diseases and schizophrenia, and vaccines for flu, rabies and polio.

It said products launched since 2009 will account for nearly half of its pharmaceutical sales by 2017. It also said it plans to continue developing its pipeline of new development-stage drugs in Japan and China, where it also has drugs in later stages of development.

By 2017, J&J said it expects to file two more drug applications in Japan and nine in China.

The diversified healthcare company is conducting an all-day meeting with hundreds of analysts and fund managers at its headquarters in New Brunswick, New Jersey, to discuss trends for its pharmaceuticals business.