The Nine Lives of Ketamine: From CI-581 to Present Day Clinical Application-Commentary on Domino et al.
Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics June 1, 2025 Evan D Kharasch 4 citations
The first clinical report and first-in-human study of the drug that became ketamine is described. Ketamine serves as an analgesic, anesthetic, antidepressant, and drug of misuse, and remains the only dissociative anesthetic. It has challenged classical pharmacologic theory and drug development paradigms, with its initial report unable to foresee the molecule's pharmacologic complexity or clinical utility.