Ketamine: The future of anti-depressants

Ketamine is commonly known as a street drug, but it has been found to have rapid and powerful anti-depressant effects. Most of the major pharma companies; from Turing Pharma to Johnson & Johnson have Ketamine derivative products in their pipeline. The most attractive thing about a Ketamine based asset is that they almost always get fast tracked by the FDA as this is considered a breakthrough therapy.





Limitations

Ketamine is extremely fast acting, but doesn't last very long. It also runs the risk of cognitive decline if taken for long periods of time. In addition, there is massive abuse potential.

How to invest in Ketamine

Johnson and Johnson (JNJ): Esketamine, fast tracked by the FDA.

Turing Pharma (Private company): Tu-002, phase I

Allergan INC (AGN): Fast tracked, should hit phase 3 by this year

Conclusion:

Ketamine based antidepressants will add a nice revenue boost to many of the larger pharmaceutical companies. This added revenue will probably be over 900 million/year for each drug and will make up for the billions of dollars these companies lost when their old SSRIs like Zoloft and Prozac went generic.



