Two-drug combo helps older adults with hard-to-treat depression ​

Two-drug combo helps older adults with hard-to-treat depression ​

More than half of older adults with clinical depression don’t get better when treated with an antidepressant. But results from a multicenter clinical trial that included Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis indicates that adding a second drug — an antipsychotic medication — to the treatment regimen helps many of those patients.

Older adults with depression sought for treatment study

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are studying people age 60 and older to determine whether augmenting medication for depression with a second drug might help older patients break free of clinical depression. Both study drugs are FDA-approved therapies for depression in younger adults, but the benefits need to be examined in older adults.