[Pharmacological approach to failures of antidepressant treatment]

Depression, a chronic disease and a leading cause of disability worldwide, will generate increasing needs in terms of public health in the coming years. Many antidepressants are now available. However, these molecules present real limitations and disadvantages. Thus there are great expectations on the part of the clinicians for more efficient drugs that are better tolerated. How can we satisfy such hopes and innovate in this domain today? One original and most promising strategy for developing new antidepressants that are more efficient and better tolerated involves antagonizing both alpha 2-noradrenergic and 5HT2 and 5HT3 serotonergic receptors, without blocking 5HT1A serotonergic receptors. The technology now available in pharmacological research allows the development of such molecules.