HealthLinksSC.com | 25 “Postpartum depression was not on my radar at all – so having this pill validates what new mothers are facing all the time,” DeaKyne said. “As a person who struggled and who works with mothers all the time who are struggling, it’s really, really a significant step for maternal health.” “Women have been waiting for an oral medicine that can specifically and rapidly improve the symptoms of PPD,” said Barry Greene, CEO of Sage Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the chief testing company for the new drug. “And we are proud to be able to deliver that.” The breakthrough pill came after seven years of clinical trials testing, both by Sage Therapeutics and Biogen, a global biotechnology company that also calls Cambridge home. The pill has been scheduled as a controlled substance by the Drug Enforcement Administration and is now commercially available. “The approval of Zurzuvae to treat postpartum depression is a major milestone for the hundreds of thousands of women who experience this underdiagnosed and undertreated condition,” said Christopher A. Viehbacher, president and CEO at Biogen. “We appreciate the support of patients, patient advocates and researchers who helped to reach this milestone.” One of the researchers was Dr. Connie Guille, director of the Women’s Reproductive Behavioral Health Division at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.
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