WHAT NEW DRUGS ARE BEING STUDIED FOR ANXIETY? HOW ARE RESEARCHERS HOPING TO IMPROVE ON CURRENT MEDICATION?

theage.com.au

Researchers are trying to develop new drugs that combine the benefits of benzodiazepines (the fast action) with the benefits of the SSRIs (effectiveness with fewer side effects). Parallel to new brain research, drug studies are focusing on the receptor for the body's natural tranquilizer, GABA. While GABA's anxiety-inhibiting effect was the basis for the development of the benzodiazepines, new research is zooming in on the receiving center for GABA and identifying specialized subunits—sort of like different lines coming into a phone center. Whereas benzodiazepines, like Valium, work across all the subunits at once, new drugs aim to specify which combinations of subunits to activate. Several pharmaceutical research labs are currently trying to produce fast-acting anxiety medications that don't include the addictive potential, sedation, memory impairment, or lack of coordination associated with existing benzodiazepines.

Source: The Anxiety Answer Book by: Laurie A. Helgoe, PhD, Laura R. Wilhelm, PhD, Martin J. Kommor, MD