GRANT. SSRI drugs are often effective against depression, but they fail to help around one-third of patients. An extensive clinical trial is now beginning in which ongoing treatment with an SSRI will be supplemented with a drug candidate developed by Nobel Laureate Arvid Carlsson before his death. The clinical trial is being led by Elias Eriksson, professor of pharmacology, who is also an old colleague and friend of Arvid Carlsson.
The Swedish Research Council is investing over SEK 17 million in the trial, which is being conducted in cooperation with psychiatrists in Gothenburg, Lund, Stockholm, and Uppsala. For this study, 160 patients with depression for whom an SSRI has shown insufficient efficacy will be recruited. All patients will continue their SSRI treatment, but will also be randomized to Arvid Carlsson’s drug candidate or placebo as add-on medication.
“I think Arvid would have been happy if he had known we were testing his molecule in this clinical trial. This was not the area of use that he primarily considered for this substance, but he certainly would still have been hopeful about the results. His unbridled enthusiasm and optimism were important factors in his success as a researcher,” said Elias Eriksson.
Patients in the study will be treated with the molecule for six weeks and then invited to continue for a further period if they so wish. The results of the study will be ready in two to three years.
Unique molecule
The molecule, named OSU 6162, is one of many developed by Arvid Carlsson in cooperation with skilled synthetic chemists at his department. Arvid called the molecule a dopamine stabilizer, as it can both stimulate dopamine-related activity when it is low and suppress it when it is high.
“Arvid thought that OSU 6162 could help patients with various fatigue conditions, and initiated several clinical studies focused on these types of conditions before his death. Though this is the first time the substance will be trialed for depression, we have recent experimental indicators that lead us to believe it could work for these patients,” said Eriksson.
Almost no side effects
Another group of drugs that has been shown to have an antidepressant effect as add-on to SSRIs when these have not displayed sufficient effect are referred to as atypical antipsychotic drugs (and are also used for schizophrenia). However, this group of pharmaceuticals often has marked side effects and is consequently not optimal in this context. But the OSU 6162 molecule has been shown in previous studies to have the major advantage of very mild side effects. There is also reason to believe that the molecule could have a better antidepressant effect than the atypical antipsychotics.
Elias Eriksson notes that undertaking major clinical trials is expensive.
“It’s important that independent academic researchers, and not just the major drug companies, are able to conduct clinical trials. Since it has now become so expensive to conduct such trials, it is commendable that the Swedish Research Council awards relatively large grants for this purpose,” he says, and hopes that more colleagues from Sahlgrenska Academy take advantage of the opportunity to apply for these funds.
BY: ELIN LINDSTRÖM
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