Enlarge Lianne Milton for NPR Chris Stephens, 28, who has been battling depression all of his life, plays with his dogs at home in Concord, Calif., on Friday. After a dose of ketamine, Stephens says, "I actually wanted to do things. I wanted to live life." Lianne Milton for NPR Chris Stephens, 28, who has been battling depression all of his life, plays with his dogs at home in Concord, Calif., on Friday. After a dose of ketamine, Stephens says, "I actually wanted to do things. I wanted to live life." A club drug called "Special K" is generating a lot of buzz among researchers who study depression. That's because "Special K," which is actually an FDA-approved anesthetic named ketamine, can relieve even suicidal depression in a matter of hours. And it works on many patients who haven't responded to current antidepressants like Prozac. Those traditional drugs, which act on the brain's serotonin system, can take more than a month to kick in, and don't work for up to 40 percent of people with major depression. "We can take care of a migraine in hours," says Carlos Zarate, a brain researcher at the National Institute of Mental Health who is … Continue reading →

Drugmaker Merck & Co., the world's third-biggest drugmaker by revenue and a Dow component, will tout recent drug approvals and progress on creating new drugs when it reports its fourth-quarter results before the stock market opens Thursday. WHAT TO WATCH FOR: CEO Kenneth Frazier, at the helm for a year, will discuss development of key experimental drugs among Merck's 20 compounds in late-stage testing. He'll likely note the company, based in Whitehouse Station, N.J., got five products approved last year, including breakthrough hepatitis C drug Victrelis. Frazier likely will discuss progress on his strategy to boost revenue and profit by limiting spending, launching new drugs and increasing sales of existing ones, growing sales in emerging markets and expanding the consumer and animal health businesses. Merck, the maker of Januvia, the top-selling pill for Type 2 diabetes, has been expanding that $3 billion-a-year-plus franchise. Its Janumet pill combines widely used generic metformin with Januvia, which increases insulin production and decreases the liver's glucose production. In October, Merck got approval for Juvisync, the first combination pill for the millions who have both diabetes and high cholesterol. The company is expecting a Food and Drug Administration decision this quarter on whether it can … Continue reading →