First Skin Patch To Treat Depression Wins Approval

First Skin Patch To Treat Depression Wins Approval

POSTED: 2:23 pm EST February 28, 2006

WASHINGTON -- Federal regulators approved the first antidepressant skin patch on Tuesday, providing a different way to administer a drug already used by Parkinson's disease patients.

The Food and Drug Administration approved the selegiline transdermal patch, agency spokeswoman Susan Cruzan said. The drug belongs to a class of medicines that is rarely a first or even second choice to treat depression.

It will be marketed as Emsam, said Somerset Pharmaceuticals Inc., which developed the drug, and Bristol-Myers Squib Co., which will market it.

The FDA will require the drug to bear a so-called "black-box" warning of the risks of suicidal thoughts and behaviors in children and adolescents treated with antidepressants. The drug is meant for use only by adults.


http://www.local6.com/health/7546600/detail.html

:hi:

purpose, however. I swim almost daily and shower a lot, too -- and I get good mileage from an "old fashioned" oral tricyclic used many decades ago and still taken at night to help sleep. Also, the new drug will probably be more expensive just due to the method of transmission.

"If it ain't broke, don't try and fix it."

Thanks for the info.

things like a heating pad can cause you to absorb too much medicine at once, I just don't
think the technology on dosage based on skin absorption is goofproof yet.

They don't stay on me. Maybe it will be good for some.