January 20, 2025
SINGAPORE – Ketamine, the controlled drug best known as a horse tranquilliser or party supplement, has in the last four years become a boon to scores of severely depressed patients in Singapore.
Since October 2020 – when the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) first authorised sale of an esketamine nasal spray for serious depression – five psychiatrists who used the therapy on their patients have reported sterling results.
Four of the doctors said majority of their patients achieved remission or recovery, while the fifth reported a one-third remission rate among his 16 patients. About half showed a 50 per cent reduction in symptoms, he added.
Consultant psychiatrist Christopher Chan said: “This is high, relative to other options.”
Once seen as an alternative option, the ketamine nasal spray…