FDA approves first postpartum depression pill

Postpartum depression affects an estimated 400,000 people a year, and while it often ends on its own within a couple of weeks, it can continue for months or even years..

The standard treatment includes counselling or antidepressants, which can take weeks to work and don't help everyone.IANS..

Federal health officials have approved the first pill specifically intended to treat severe depression after childbirth, a condition that affects thousands of new mothers in the U.S. each year...

"Having access to an oral medication will be a beneficial option for many of these women coping with extreme, and sometimes life-threatening, feelings," said Dr. Tiffany Farchione, FDA's director of psychiatric drugs, in a statement...

The FDA's pill approval is based on two company studies that showed women who took Zurzuvae had fewer signs of depression over a four- to six-week period when compared with those who received a dummy pill..

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