FDA approves bipolar, depression drug from AstraZeneca

WILMINGTON, Del. The Food and Drug Administration has approved a drug from AstraZeneca for treating bipolar depression and mania, AstraZeneca said Friday.

The drug, Seroquel XR (quetiapine fumarate), is designed to treat acute depressive and manic episodes associated with the disorder and is the first once-daily treatment that the FDA has approved for both types of episodes, the company said.

“When people think about bipolar disorder, it is important to remember how debilitating the depressive episodes of the disease can be,” Sanford University psychiatry professor Dr. Trisha Suppes said. “In fact, in the long term, patients with bipolar disorder experience depressive symptoms three times longer than manic symptoms.”