Odds and ends in psychopharmacology from the past 10 years

Seven topics previously described in this column are revisited. The use of quantitative electroencephalography has been shown in a prospective study to be effective for predicting antidepressant treatment response. A novel antidepressant drug, agomelatine, has generated much controversy, and its development for the U.S. market was discontinued. A long awaited revised system for categorizing the safety of medications during pregnancy and lactation has finally been published by the Food and Drug Administration. Dextromethorphan/quinidine, eslicarbazepine acetate, levomilnacipran, and esketamine are recent examples of drugs that were developed based on the complex concepts of chirality and stereochemistry. Lisdexamfetamine, a stimulant drug, failed to show benefit as an augmentation therapy for the treatment of depression. The combination drug naltrexone/bupropion was finally approved as a therapy for obesity, after its cardiovascular safety was confirmed in a prospective premarketing study. Further development of the glucocorticoid receptor antagonist drug mifepristone as a treatment for psychotic depression was stopped based on a large negative trial, but the drug continues to be investigated for other potential psychiatric indications. These examples illustrate how the field of psychopharmacology continues to evolve.