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Review
. 2021 Apr 15:13:441-459.
doi: 10.2147/JEP.S261403. eCollection 2021.

Experimental Drugs for Panic Disorder: An Updated Systematic Review

Affiliations
Review

Experimental Drugs for Panic Disorder: An Updated Systematic Review

Daniela Caldirola et al. J Exp Pharmacol. .

Abstract

Several effective pharmacological therapies for panic disorder (PD) are available, but they have some drawbacks, and unsatisfactory outcomes can occur. Expanding the variety of anti-panic medications may allow for improving PD treatment. The authors performed an updated systematic review of preclinical and clinical (Phase I-III) pharmacological studies to look for advances made in the last six years concerning novel-mechanism-based anti-panic compounds or using medications approved for nonpsychiatric medical conditions to treat PD. The study included seven published articles presenting a series of preclinical studies, two Phase I clinical studies with orexin receptor (OXR) antagonists, and two clinical studies investigating the effects of D-cycloserine (DCS) and xenon gas in individuals with PD. The latest preclinical findings confirmed and expanded previous promising indications of OXR1 antagonists as novel-mechanism-based anti-panic compounds. Translating preclinical research into clinical applications remains in the early stages. However, limited clinical findings suggested the selective OXR1 antagonist JNJ-61393115 may exert anti-panic effects in humans. Overall, OXR1 antagonists displayed a favorable profile of short-term safety and tolerability. Very preliminary suggestions of possible anti-panic effects of xenon gas emerged but need confirmation with more rigorous methodology. DCS did not seem promising as an enhancer of cognitive-behavioral therapy in PD. Future studies, including objective panic-related physiological parameters, such as respiratory measures, and expanding the use of panic vulnerability biomarkers, such as hypersensitivity to CO2 panic provocation, may allow for more reliable conclusions about the anti-panic properties of new compounds.

Keywords: D-cycloserine; experimental therapy; novel drug; orexin; xenon gas.

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Conflict of interest statement

Daniela Caldirola, Alessandra Alciati, Francesco Cuniberti, and Giampaolo Perna are scientific consultants for Medibio LTD. Giampaolo Perna has served as consultant for Lundbeck and Pfizer. The author reports no other potential conflicts of interest in this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
PRISMA flow diagram of study selection process. Notes: PRISMA figure adapted from Liberati A, Altman D, Tetzlaff J, et al. The PRISMA statement for reporting systematic reviews and meta-analyses of studies that evaluate health care interventions: explanation and elaboration. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology. 2009;62(10). Creative Commons.

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