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Oxford study aims to find anti-depressants that work faster for patients

General Research

A new method to find anti-depressant treatments that work for individual patients is about to be tested at GP surgeries across Europe. Researchers at the Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust and Oxford University’s Department of Psychiatry, in collaboration with the Oxfordshire based company P1vital Products Ltd, are conducting the PReDicT (Predicting Response to Depression Treatment) study.

There are many anti-depressant drugs currently on the market, and different drugs seem to work on different people. But it generally takes between 4-6 weeks of treatment before people with depression start feeling better, and many people will not respond to initial anti-depressant drugs prescribed. This means that it often takes months to find an effective treatment for a patient.

Dr Michael Browning, a consultant psychiatrist at Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, a researcher at Oxford University’s Department of Psychiatry and  P1vital's medical director, is testing a new method which might find the right drug faster.

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