“This is a patient population that just so often falls through the cracks,” said Dr. Ruta Nunacs, a psychiatrist with the Center for Women’s Mental Health at Massachusetts General Hospital. “When women are told, ‘You have postpartum depression,’ it’s embarrassing, it is demeaning, it makes them feel like a bad mom.”
She added, “There’s also a lot of stigma about taking antidepressant medication, so that might make this treatment more appealing because it’s really a treatment specific for postpartum depression.”
An estimated 10 to 15 percent of women who give birth in the United States experience depression during pregnancy or in the year afterward. The condition can be accompanied by intense anxiety, shame, guilt, impaired sleep, panic attacks and suicidal thoughts or attempts. And it can make it difficult for mothers to provide their babies with the care, bonding and nurturing that is crucial for healthy development.
“Having access to an oral medication will be a beneficial option for many of these women coping with extreme, and sometimes life-threatening, feelings,” Dr. Tiffany R. Farchione, the director of the F.D.A. division responsible for the approval, said in a statement.
The pill, zuranolone, which will be marketed under the brand name Zurzuvae, was developed by Sage Therapeutics, a Massachusetts company that produces it in partnership with Biogen. It is expected to be available after the Drug Enforcement Administration completes a 90-day review required for drugs affecting the central nervous system, Sage said. The companies have not announced a price for the pill.
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