Ketamine may have ‘powerful effect’ on depression, researchers urge it to be covered by Medicare

An Australian study has found a notorious party drug may help depression sufferers, with top researchers urging it be placed on the Medicare rebate scheme.

Ketamine may have a “powerful effect” on depression patients, an Australian study has found.

Medicare should cover ketamine as a depression treatment, top researchers say, after an Australian study found it could have a “powerful effect” for patients.

The George Institute’s public health and clinical trial expert Professor Anthony Rodgers said it should not have taken 20 years to get to this point — with promising research first emerging two decades ago.

But he said it had been hard to secure funding.

“You have a product that only costs a few dollars, but the research required to look at the completely new use of it is a big investment required,” he said.

“There’s a big challenge where public grant bodies don’t have enough funding for it and Big Pharma are only interested in new molecules [as they can be patented].”

Generic ketamine costs hospitals as little as $5 a dose, and can be prescribed ‘off-label’ — meaning it was used to treat a condition it was not approved for in Australia — to treat depression.

But Prof Rogers said patients must be closely supervised by a practitioner after receiving a dose, meaning unless Medicare covers ketamine treatment— patients pay, at a minimum — $350 per dose.

“The service costs to administer are not cheap, but we’re very hopeful there’ll be a [Medicare] code soon to support that use and that affordable access,” he said.

The research found that more than one in five people achieved total remission from their symptoms after a month of twice-weekly injections, while a third had their symptoms improve by at least 50 per cent.

Ketamine is commonly used as an anaesthetic for both humans and animals, and it also has a reputation as a “party drug”, but recent research has suggested it may be an effective way to help people with hard-to-treat depression.

The study was a collaboration between six academic clinical mood disorder units in Australia and one in New Zealand and was funded by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).