By Kathleen Doheny HealthDay Reporter
WEDNESDAY, May 1 (HealthDay News) -- An experimental drug for autism did not improve levels of lethargy and social withdrawal in children who took it, but it did show some other benefits, a new study finds.
Children on arbaclofen did improve on an overall measure of autism severity when compared to kids taking an inactive placebo, said lead researcher Dr. Jeremy Veenstra-VanderWeele, an associate professor of psychiatry, pediatrics and pharmacology at Vanderbilt University.
He is to present the findings Thursday at the International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR) in Spain.
One of 88 children in the United States is now diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, the umbrella term for complex brain development disorders marked by problems in social interaction and communication.
Veenstra-VanderWeele focused on evaluating the social improvement with the drug because earlier research had suggested it could help. However, one of the earlier studies did not compare the drug to a placebo, but simply measured improvement in those who took the drug.
In the new study, Veenstra-VanderWeele and his team assigned 150 people with autism, aged 5 to 21, to take the medicine or a placebo, without knowing which group they were in, for eight weeks. The participants had been diagnosed with autistic disorder, Asperger's syndrome or another related condition known as pervasive developmental disorder.
In all, 130 finished the study. When no differences were found in social withdrawal or lethargy between the two groups, the researchers looked at a scale that measures severity and improvement of autism with treatment.
Those on the drug improved more on that scale. A child, for instance, who began the study evaluated as having marked severity might be described as moderate by the study's end, Veenstra-VanderWeele said.
"This is the sort of improvement that would motivate us to start a medicine," he said.
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Drug Shows Some Benefit for Kids With Autism