Mayo Invention Collaboration Focuses on New Treatment For Depression

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Researchers at Mayo Clinic's campus in Jacksonville and Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., through their technology commercialization efforts, have licensed compounds to AstraZeneca for potential new drug therapies to treat depression. The collaboration advances both the development of novel compounds and supports ongoing research by Mayo and Virginia Tech in the area of triple reuptake inhibitors.

VIDEO ALERT: To access additional web video and audio from Dr. Richelson, please visit the Mayo Clinic News Blog.

According to Elliott Richelson, M.D., Mayo Clinic Department of Pharmacology, this is important because triple reuptake inhibitors block reuptake of the neurotransmitters serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine. Certain antidepressants currently available for patients suffering from depression work by inhibiting or blocking serotonin reuptake. Others block both serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake. A key element in the way nerve cells work is when a neurotransmitter is released to relay its message, it returns to the nerve ending from which it was released. The mechanism of taking the neurotransmitter back into the nerve ending is called reuptake. In depression, there are fewer neurotransmitters being released in the brain. By blocking the reuptake of all three neurotransmitters more neurotransmitters can be sent to the nerve cells. Mayo's collaboration focuses on a new class of antidepressants that block the reuptake of all three neurotransmitters.

The research leading up to this collaboration spans more than 10 years. Originally, Dr. Richelson was approached by chemist Paul Carlier, Ph.D., now at Virginia Tech, to collaborate in the discovery and evaluation of novel antidepressants. Dr. Carlier recognized Dr. Richelson's unique expertise in psychiatric pharmacology combined with years of clinical practice treating patients with depression and anxiety.

Their efforts are fueled by unmet needs in the treatment of depression. In particular, it can take weeks before antidepressants begin to relieve the signs and symptoms of depression. A large percentage of patients do not go into remission with initial treatment and may need to try a different antidepressant to go into remission. In addition, 10 to 15 percent of patients who have depression are considered treatment resistant. "There is hope that triple reuptake inhibitors can have a more rapid onset of action and can provide relief to a larger percentage of patients, including those who are considered treatment resistant," says Dr. Richelson.

Triple reuptake inhibitors also should be more patient friendly, says Dr. Richelson. An existing class of drugs sometimes used for treatment-resistant depression is called monoamine oxidase inhibitors. These drugs also elevate synaptic levels of serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine. However, when taking monoamine oxidase inhibitors, patients need to avoid certain drugs and foods. "The likelihood of triple reuptake inhibitors reacting negatively to other medications seems small, and patients would not need to restrict food," says Dr. Richelson.

According to Dr. Richelson, "The promise of this research collaboration is the development of new compounds to treat a range of psychiatric illnesses, in addition to depression. By better balancing the regulation of serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine reuptake, patients have a greater likelihood of successfully alleviating their psychological symptoms."

Collaborators at Mayo, Virginia Tech and AstraZeneca are continuing to identify a variety of new compounds. The collaboration fulfills Mayo's mission of meeting patient needs by taking Mayo research and discoveries to the global marketplace.

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About Mayo Clinic

Mayo Clinic is the first and largest integrated, not-for-profit group practice in the world. Doctors from every medical specialty work together to care for patients, joined by common systems and a philosophy of "the needs of the patient come first." More than 3,700 physicians, scientists and researchers, and 50,100 allied health staff work at Mayo Clinic, which has campuses in Rochester, Minn; Jacksonville, Fla; and Scottsdale/Phoenix, Ariz.; and community-based providers in more than 70 locations in southern Minnesota., western Wisconsin and northeast Iowa. These locations treat more than half a million people each year. To obtain the latest news releases from Mayo Clinic, go to www.mayoclinic.org/news. For information about research and education, visit www.mayo.edu. MayoClinic.com (www.mayoclinic.com) is available as a resource for your health stories.