Bipolar disorder

... PharmaLive: Novartis and Servier Sign Licensing Agreement for a Novel Treatment of Major Depressive Disorder TODAY ON PHARMALIVE.COM Novartis and Servier Sign Licensing Agreement for a Novel Treatment of Major Depressive Disorder Novartis acquires exclusive development and marketing rights to the US and several other countriesBASEL, Switzerland, March 29, 2006 – Novartis and Servier announced today the signing of a licensing agreement for agomelatine, a Phase III investigational drug for the treatment of major depressive disorder, a condition estimated to affect one in ten adults in the US alone.

Under development as a once-daily treatment, agomelatine is a novel melatonergic antidepressant that acts as an agonist at MT1 and MT2 receptors with additional 5-HT2c antagonist properties.

Due to its unique receptor profile, agomelatine represents a potential innovation for the pharmacological treatment of depression.

Under the terms of the agreement, which requires antitrust approval in the United States, Novartis has acquired the exclusive rights to further develop and market agomelatine in the US and several other countries.

Servier retained the rights to develop and market the product in the rest of the world.

Financial terms of this agreement were not disclosed."This collaboration shows our commitment to invest i...

...ba href=/bipolar disorder/a/b, the "Kindling Model" is a theory that holds to the idea that "the first episode of ba href=/bipolar disorder/a/b, whether manic or depressive, is more likely to be associated with major psychological stressors than are episodes occurring later in the course of the illness." In other words, initial depressive, manic or hypomanic episodes may be sparked by a stressful life event, but as the disorder progresses further episodes may occur without any outside triggers.

This theory seems to be intuitive and explains the course of ba href=/bipolar disorder/a/bs rather reasonably. However, a recent study published in The Journal of Abnormal Psychology suggests that this model does not fully explain this disorder.

In this article entitled "Stressful Life Events, ba href=/bipolar disorder/a/b, and the 'Kindling Model'," a group of researchers examined previous research that was specific to the theory of kindling and ba href=/bipolar disorder/a/b.

Of the seven research projects previously done, the results are rather conflicting: five support the theory of kindling, two do not and one was inconclusive. Therefore, this study undertook to improve on previous designs and reach more conclusive results.

The general purpose of this study was to "understand the factors related to good versus poor long-term outcomes" and specifically to understand the "exact nature of the relationship between life events and bipolar episodes" to understand "how this relationship changes over the course of th...

... PE.com E-mail it to a friend !

- - Out of the shadow Group shines a beacon on mental illness 01:15 AM PST on Wednesday, March 29, 2006 By JAMIE AYALAThe Press-Enterprise HEMET - Brenda Scott's mother's battle with paranoid schizophrenia and manic depression was never spoken of among friends and family.

DeeAnn Bradley / The Press-Enterprise Brenda Sc...