ArticleThe mental health clinician2018
Kappa opioid receptor antagonism: Are opioids the answer for treatment resistant depression?
Article in The mental health clinician, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 25 citations in OpenAlex.
- Samidorphan sadness: does the addition of samidorphan to olanzapine have prodepressive effects?International clinical psychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Safety in treatment: Classical pharmacotherapeutics and new avenues for addressing maternal depression and anxiety during pregnancy.Pharmacological reviews · 2025Review
- New and emerging pharmacologic treatments for MDD.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Review
- G protein-coupled receptors in neurodegenerative diseases and psychiatric disorders.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2023Review
- Article
- Sublingual Buprenorphine/Naloxone and Multi-Modal Management for High-Risk Chronic Pain Patients.Journal of clinical medicine · 2021Article
- New agents and perspectives in the pharmacological treatment of major depressive disorder.Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry · 2021Review
- The Ketamine Antidepressant Story: New Insights.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Review
- OREX-1019: A Novel Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder and Relapse Prevention.The Journal of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics · 2020Article
- Buprenorphine Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder: An Overview.CNS drugs · 2019Review
- Overview of Psychiatric Medications in the Pipeline in Phase III Trials as of June 1, 2024: A Systematic Review.Innovations in clinical neuroscienceReview
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionPast trials of buprenorphine (BUP) in the treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD) have displayed favorable results, although its clinical utility was limited by the risk of abuse or physical dependence. By combining BUP with samidorphan (SAM), the euphoric high is negated by an opposing mechanism, which theoretically reduces addictive-like properties while allowing the antidepressant properties to remain. As such, the objective of this article is to analyze the results of BUP/SAM premarketing clinical trials as adjunctive treatment for treatment-resistant MDD.
methodsA comprehensive PubMed/MEDLINE search was conducted through November 9, 2017, using the following search terms: depression, samidorphan, buprenorphine, ALKS-5461. Additional data were obtained from Clinicaltrials.gov and resources included in the present study. All English-language clinical trials evaluating the combination of BUP/SAM in the treatment of MDD were included.
resultsA few premarketing studies have evaluated the efficacy and safety of BUP/SAM combination as adjunctive treatment in patients with treatment-resistant MDD. The FORWARD-1 through FORWARD-5 trials concluded (1) the most effective dosing ratio of BUP/SAM to reduce abuse potential was 1:1; (2) statistically significant changes in scores from baseline on the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale were noted for the 2 mg/2 mg dose compared with placebo; and (3) the most commonly reported adverse effects were nausea, dizziness, and fatigue. DISCUSSION: Buprenorphine/samidorphan has shown favorable results for efficacy and tolerability in premarketing studies evaluating its use as adjunctive therapy for treatment-resistant MDD. Its novel mechanism targeting the opioid pathway may serve as a promising antidepressant devoid of abuse potential.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.