Anxiety disorders, PTSD and OCD: systematic review of approved psychiatric medications (2008–2024) and pipeline phase III medications
Abstract
Objective: This systematic review examines psychiatric medications approved by the FDA for anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) from 2008 to 2024 and describes the mechanism of action, indications for both labelled and off-label uses, evidence for efficacy, dosing and adverse effects for each medication.
Methods: The methodology involved a literature search of the PubMed database for studies published from 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2024 on FDA-approved psychiatric medications and phase III pipeline medications, using the keywords: “anxiety” OR “PTSD” OR “OCD” AND “psychopharm*” OR “medic*” OR “pharm*”. The authors conducted independent assessments of the resulting articles and reached a consensus on eligible studies to include in this systematic review.
Results: Our review revealed that, in the past 16 years, the FDA approved only two medications for anxiety disorders (a delayed-release form of duloxetine for generalized anxiety disorder and an extended-release form of lorazepam) and none for PTSD or OCD. We also identified 14 pipeline medications for anxiety disorders, eight for PTSD and one for OCD, all of which are currently in phase III clinical trials.
Conclusion: Our results showed a paucity of new medications for anxiety disorders and none for PTSD and OCD in the past 16 years. However, phase III psychiatric medications for anxiety disorders, PTSD and OCD seem to show several agents with novel mechanisms of action, various modes of administration, and improved side-effect profiles.
