A Novel Tertiary Carbamate Prodrug Strategy to Overcome Metabolic Barriers in Oral Ketamine Delivery.
ChemMedChem 2026 Juulia Järvinen, Santosh Kumar Adla, Janne Tampio et al.
Ketamine, a rapid-acting N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, has therapeutic potential beyond anesthesia, including treatment-resistant depression. However, its low oral bioavailability due to extensive first-pass metabolism and high abuse potential limit outpatient use. This study describes the design, synthesis, and in vivo evaluation of a ketamine prodrug conjugated to tyrosine...