The FDA Approved a Ketamine-Like Drug for Use in Treating Depression

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a l drug identical to ketamine for use as an antidepressant, Reuters reports, marking the first major advancement in pharmaceutically treating depression in over three decades.

Manufactured by corporate mega-giant Johnson & Johnson, the drug, called Spravato, is a nasal spray. It's also what Reuters calls a "chemical mirror" of ketamine -- an anesthetic that is used recreationally by many queer and queer-adjacent people alike because it makes you feel all weird, which can be fun except when it's not -- meaning that it's basically the same thing, structurally speaking.

It doesn't sound like this ketamine-adjacent drug is going to suddenly become super ubiquitous any time soon; due to the similarities between Spravato and ketamine, distribution of the Johnson & Johnson drug will be highly restricted to prevent misuse and abuse. It's intended for use in conjunction with an oral antidepressant and only by patients who've tried at least two other kinds of antidepressants that have failed to treat their symptoms.

Two doses of Spravato will cost anywhere between $595 and $895, Reuters says, which costs more than a free bump you might stumble into on the dance floor...unless you factor in the experience of realizing you suddenly have to poop in the club, which is priceless in the bad way. In closing, Out does not endorse recreational drug use, and I can't be fired for anything you might infer from this blog post, which deserves a Pulitzer or at the very least a GLAAD Media Award.

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