NEW PHARMACOLOGICAL STRATEGY AGAINST RESISTANT DEPRESSION

Depression is a disease that affects more than 200 million people today and its incidence is increasing, affecting more than twice as many women as men in all age groups and regardless of location. Currently, although new types of drugs are being developed, classic antidepressants such as Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) are still used as first-line drugs due to their adherence rates and fewer side effects. Unfortunately, the available pharmacological treatments have not proven to be very effective, with almost 50% of patients presenting what is called treatment-resistant depression. In this invention, an augmentation strategy has been tested based on the pharmacological combination of an SSRI, Fluoxetine, with the N-terminal fragment of Galanin, an endogenous peptide present in the central nervous system and which has the capacity to interact with the serotonergic system in such a way that it enhances the effects of antidepressants in animal models of resistant depression. Competitive advantages

Among the advantages of the pharmacological combination strategy of GAL (1-15) with FLX we can highlight that it involves administering an already tested drug with an endogenous peptide, so that the side effects and toxicity are expected to be minimal. In addition, because SSRIs are drugs commonly used as a first choice, this combination would avoid polypharmacy and changes in the type of antidepressant. Another notable aspect would be the lack of need for hospital administration.

Uses and applications

The present invention is framed in the field of biomedicine and refers to the use of the pharmacological combination of GAL(1-15)+FLX as a therapy against treatment-resistant depression.