Recommendations for the Usage of Ketamine and Esketamine

TO THE EDITOR: The article by McIntyre et al. (1) aims to synthesize the literature on ketamine and esketamine with respect to efficacy, safety, and tolerability, and to provide guidance for implementation but provides no description of the methodology for the work involved. Given that the extensive disclosure statements reveal that a number of the authors have significant financial interests in the usage of these compounds, several questions arise: How was this “international group of mood disorder experts” selected? How was the work funded? Who wrote the paper and was a professional writing consultant involved? Is there any communication between the editorial and advertising staff regarding planned publication of a given article and simultaneous advertisements by firms marketing the agents under review?

Greater transparency regarding these recurrent issues would be a desirable goal.