{"id":969308,"date":"2026-11-13T15:46:09","date_gmt":"2026-11-13T15:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/969308\/"},"modified":"2026-11-13T15:46:09","modified_gmt":"2026-11-13T15:46:09","slug":"alternative-drug-via-nasal-spray-could-help-in-depression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/969308\/","title":{"rendered":"Alternative drug via nasal spray could help in depression"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A single dose of a psychedelic nasal spray helped reduce depression symptoms in people who did not respond to standard antidepressant medications, according to a clinical trial published in the medical journal JAMA.<\/p>\n<p>The drug, called mebufotenin or 5-MeO-DMT, produces a short-lasting psychedelic experience.<\/p>\n<p>Previous research cited in the study found that its effects peak within eight to 15 minutes and usually wear off within 45 to 60 minutes.<\/p>\n<p>The clinical trial took place between September 2023 and April 2025 at 38 sites across Australia, Europe and the United States.<\/p>\n<p>It included 193 adults aged 18 to 75 with moderate to severe depression who had not improved after treatment with two to five antidepressant medications.<\/p>\n<p>ALSO READ:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thestar.com.my\/lifestyle\/health\/know-your-medicines\/2024\/10\/22\/here-are-the-common-drugs-used-to-treat-depression\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Here are the common drugs used to treat depression<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Researchers randomly assigned participants to receive a single nasal spray containing either 12mg or 8mg of the drug.<\/p>\n<p>A third group received a very low dose of 0.3mg, which was not expected to produce noticeable psychedelic effects.<\/p>\n<p>Researchers measured depression symptoms using a 60-point scale, with higher scores indicating more severe symptoms.<\/p>\n<p>The main assessment was conducted on day 29, and participants were monitored for a total of 57 days.<\/p>\n<p>By day 29, average depression scores had fallen by 11.1 points in the 12mg group and 12.5 points in the 8mg group.<\/p>\n<p>The comparison group also improved, with scores dropping by an average of 5.5 points.<\/p>\n<p>However, the two groups receiving the active treatment showed greater improvements than the comparison group.<\/p>\n<p>The benefits appeared as early as the day after treatment and largely continued through the eight-week follow-up period.<\/p>\n<p>Around one-third of participants who received the active doses experienced at least a 50% reduction in depression symptoms by day 29.<\/p>\n<p>In comparison, this level of improvement was seen in only 12% of participants who received the very low dose.<\/p>\n<p>Symptoms also fell to very low levels in 18% to 26% of participants in the active treatment groups, compared with 8% in the comparison group.<\/p>\n<p>Side effects were common, but almost all were mild or moderate.<\/p>\n<p>Headache, nausea and pain at the site where the spray was administered were the most frequently reported problems.<\/p>\n<p>Researchers said larger trials with longer follow-up periods are needed to confirm the findings and determine how long the benefits last.\u00a0\u2013\u00a0dpa<\/p>\n<p>ALSO READ:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thestar.com.my\/lifestyle\/health\/2024\/01\/05\/yes-there-is-hope-for-treatment-resistant-depression\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Yes, there is hope for treatment-resistant depression<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A single dose of a psychedelic nasal spray helped reduce depression symptoms in people who did not respond&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":969309,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[49,48,6319,84,377,393,13470,48194,4791],"class_list":["post-969308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-depression","tag-health","tag-medication","tag-mental-health","tag-mind","tag-nasal-spray","tag-treatment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/969308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=969308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/969308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/969309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=969308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=969308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=969308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}