“Spravato shows immediate improvement of depressive symptoms, so it is effective for depressive patients in emergencies such as those who attempted suicide. But considering the suicide rate is high among low-income people, even if Spravato becomes reimbursable, patients will find it difficult to use the expensive drug. Therefore, I hope that the government could give temporary cost support for Spravato at least for depressive patients in emergency.”

So said professor Paik Jong-woo of the Psychiatry Department at Kyunghee University Hospital at an online press conference held by Janssen to mark World Suicide Prevention Day on Friday. Paik is a former head of the Korea Suicide Prevention Center.

Paik noted that the number of patients with depressive disorder increased by more than 7 percent in the past five years. He said that community health reports have also shown that Covid-19 made more people feel depressed in their daily lives. The risk group for depression has increased nearly five times compared to the pre-Covid-19 era, which will be a serious social problem, he warned.

“In the Covid-19 era, suicides caused by socio-economic reasons will emerge as a more serious social problem,” Paik said.

As a significant number of suicide attempts come from severe depressive disorder, he emphasized that people suffering from severe depressive disorder need active attention, treatment, and continuous management.

Suicide should be viewed not as an individual or a family problem but a social responsibility, and the nation needs legislation to enhance the state’s responsibility.

He added that local governments could benchmark the “3T model” of testing, tracing, and treating, used for Covid-19 control and prevention, to help patients with suicidal thoughts. “Along with this, government agencies should collaborate to provide economic, medical, and emotional support and push for a comprehensive suicide prevention project,” he said.

Spravato, a new treatment for depression, arrived in Korea a year ago, but it is not reimbursable. Paik urged the government to grant reimbursement for Spravato and support the high drug cost through a separate measure.

While existing antidepressants take several days to improve symptoms, Spravato demonstrates immediate improvement, he said. Thus, Spravato is highly effective in treating and manage severely depressed patients who attempted suicide, he added.

“Spravato or investigational antibody treatment is very expensive. I hope the government could consider supporting these drugs with temporary cost support for emergency patients,” Paik said.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety granted the permit for Spravato to treat adults with treatment-resistant depression on June 23, 2020. In December 2020, the treatment added an indication as a combination therapy with oral antidepressants for rapid improvement of depressive symptoms in moderate to severe major depressive disorder in adults with acute suicidal thoughts or behaviors.

Spravato is the first antidepressant authorized for severe depressive disorder, named treatment-resistant depression. It has a new mechanism that appeared for the first time in over 30 years in depression.

Spravato immediately improved depressive symptoms through ASPIRE I and ASPIRE II clinical trials, and this treatment benefit appeared four hours after administration.