NRx Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: NRXP) announced that Osmind, Inc. presented a study at the American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology conference comparing IV ketamine and intranasal esketamine treatments for depression.

The retrospective study analyzed electronic health records from 8,224 patients with treatment-resistant depression who received IV ketamine and 1,830 patients treated with intranasal esketamine across 800 community psychiatry clinics. After matching patients on baseline characteristics, researchers created an analysis set of 3,560 people.

Results showed 34% of IV ketamine patients achieved remission compared to 26% for intranasal esketamine patients. Response rates were 63% and 58% respectively. IV ketamine patients demonstrated higher rates of remission with an odds ratio of 1.51 (P<.001) and response with an odds ratio of 1.22 (P<.003) compared to intranasal esketamine patients.

The study was jointly authored by researchers from Osmind, Inc. and Prof. Samuel Wilkinson of Yale University Department of Psychiatry. Both treatments showed meaningful and sustained depression reductions measured by the PHQ-9 depression scale.

The authors noted the main limitation was that treatment assignments were not randomized, meaning unmeasured confounding variables may contribute to outcome differences. The study included patients using the Osmind electronic medical record system, who may not represent all patients treated with these medications nationwide.

"We at NRx appreciate the rigor with which Osmind and its academic partner approached this Real World Evidence study and look forward to the results of larger, confirmatory studies," said Dr. Jonathan Javitt, Chairman and CEO of NRx Pharmaceuticals.