What is the evidence behind the use of Seroquel for depression?
Most of the evidence for the use of quetiapine to treat depression consists of short-term studies. That’s why an FDA advisory committee in 2009 voted not to recommend it as a stand-alone treatment for depression, citing concerns about potential long-term risks in a large population, especially when safer drugs are available. But the committee found enough evidence in two six-week trials to recommend quetiapine for limited use as an add-on drug for “resistant depression.” Those studies found that depressed patients who took quetiapine plus an antidepressant had significantly reduced symptoms compared with those who received a placebo plus an antidepressant. “The majority of experts on the committee acknowledged that it is effective,” says Wayne K. Goodman, M.D., chairman of the committee and professor and chairman of the department of psychiatry at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. “But the overarching issue with this class of drugs is safety.
