I wouldn't normally post something like this, but it is just so odd.......
utism symptoms improved in five boys given a century-old drug for sleeping sickness, according to a new study led by University of California San Diego researchers.
The small clinical trial involved 10 boys, including five who received a placebo and did not show improvement. Those that received a single infusion of the drug, suramin, showed significantly better functioning in language, behavior, and willingness to socialize. The gains lasted for several weeks, said Robert Naviaux, a UC San Diego professor who was the study’s principal investigator.
The open-access study was published in the Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology. It is online at j.mp/autismsuramin. (A detailed question and answer interview with Naviaux is available at this link, along with accounts from parents in the study about the improvement they saw in their children. Both were provided by UCSD.)
Autism spectrum disorder therapy is often based on behavioral methods, sometimes accompanied by drugs. It’s considered most effective when treatment begins as early as possible. Consequently, much research is focused on developing methods of early screening for infants and toddlers likely to have autism.
But these boys were older than toddlers. The youngest was 5, the oldest 14; and the average age was 9.1 years. So if the research is confirmed, it would mean there’s more brain plasticity in older autism spectrum disorder children than has been believed.
It would also mean that for the first time, a drug would be proven to treat an underlying cause of autism.
Naviaux said the results in this study, which primarily assessed safety, must be regarded as preliminary. However, he said the results warrant a larger trial. He’s planning to test 40 diagnosed autism spectrum disorder children.
To fund the planned larger study, about $2 million more in donations are needed. To learn more about the research, visit Naviaux’s website at naviauxlab.ucsd.edu. A link at the top of the page provides information on donating.
Drug research is usually funded by pharmaceutical companies seeking to bring new medicines to market. But suramin, a drug introduced in 1916, is long off-patent, so that financial incentive is lacking.
The benefits of using such an old drug includes the lower cost of an off-patent drug, and that it has an extensive history of use, Naviaux said. This allows the risks to be better assessed than starting out with a drug that has never been put into people.
Suramin is also being explored for other diseases, such as preventing Chikungunya and Ebola virus infection; and treating forms of cancer.
However, suramin can be toxic, Naviaux warned, so expert medical guidance is needed. For that reason, he recommends parents not experiment with the drug and risk harm to their children.