Reacción a "Ketamine in pill form is effective and safe against depression resistant to other treatments"

This novel study further underlines the impressive antidepressant effect of ketamine, but in the much more convenient and acceptable form of a slow-release tablet.  

Over seventy per cent of depression sufferers who had failed to improve with an average of over 4 different antidepressants responded to oral ketamine and over 50% went in to complete remission.  

In addition, the researchers demonstrated a major upside of oral ketamine - that side effects did not separate significantly from placebo. In other words a ketamine tablet, as opposed to an infusion, is well tolerated. This is consistent with previous research. 

The study addressed the thorny issue of maintaining improvement after the initial response. Their results suggest that many will continue to do well with longer term treatment, provided higher doses are used, but more research is needed with higher numbers of patients. 

A potential downside of taking oral ketamine is that there are likely to be large individual differences in absorption and metabolism, so further research is needed to determine the ideal dosing regime.