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A drug discovered more than 100 years ago may hold the key to combating autism symptoms, according to a study.
Researcher Dr Robert Naviaux of the San Diego School of Medicine gave suramin, a drug first developed in 1916, to 10 autistic boys between the ages of five and 14, and noted transformative results.
"After the single dose, it was almost like a roadblock had been released," he said. "If the future studies show that there's continued health benefits, this could be a game-changer for families with autism."
The study, which has been published in the Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology, saw five of the participants receive suramin, while the remainder were given placebos. Included in the group were four non-verbal children – two six year olds and two 14 year olds.
"The six year old and the 14 year old who received suramin said the first sentences of their lives about one week after the single suramin infusion," Naviaux told the UC San Diego Health website. "This did not happen in any of the children given the placebo."
Source: https://www.rt.com/usa/390222-autism-research-suramin-symptoms/
(Score: 4, Insightful) by bob_super on Wednesday May 31 2017, @06:05PM (3 children)
"Upon further review by our company's scientists, the drug has significant side-effects and is too dangerous to use. However, the new patented strawberry-flavored version has passed all our tests with flying colors, despite all the sacrifices we had to make in order to reduce our manufacturing costs to only $17899 per ml."
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday May 31 2017, @06:38PM (1 child)
. . . furthermore, our new drug must be taken weekly for life.
We don't need no steenkin' single-dose cures. What we need is an ongoing treatment. And just for spite we're going to make it an injection children take rather than an orally taken medication. Think of the children.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 31 2017, @07:50PM
A great many people are perfectly happy to consume daily doses of caffeine to function in the waking world.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 31 2017, @07:49PM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suramin#Adverse_reactions [wikipedia.org]
Thankfully, the way this works is to reset stuck cells so it works once and you're done.