Dr. Richard Weisler, adjunct professor of psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, is the lead investigator in a phase-3 clinical study which found that the drug quetiapine fumarate, currently used forschizophrenia and bipolar disorder, may also help people with a form of clinical depression known as major depressive disorder (MDD).

The six-week, randomized, multicenter, double-blind study of 723 patients found significantly reduced depression scores by day 4 of treatment in all quetiapine XR (extended release) dosage groups versus
placebo.

Weisler notes that with existing antidepressants, it usually takes two to three weeks or longer for patients with MDD to begin showing responseto treatment. [continue reading…]