Researchers studying century-old drug in potential new approach to autism

It's a study of 10 people. That's a pretty small N, even if the effect was large...

"In a small, randomized Phase I/II clinical trial (SAT1), researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine say a 100-year-old drug called suramin, originally developed to treat African sleeping sickness, was safely administered to children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), who subsequently displayed measurable, but transient, improvement in core symptoms of autism."

"The most changed behaviors, the authors said, were social communication and play, speech and language, calm and focus, repetitive behaviors and coping skills.

Participating families also reported benefits among the children who received suramin. "We saw improvements in our son after suramin that we have never seen before," said the parent of a 14-year-old who had not spoken a complete sentence in 12 years."

Low-dose suramin in autism spectrum disorder: a small, phase I/II, randomized clinical trial:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/acn3.424/abstract;jsessionid=B2C54E47120D3EF0CF086A7254D43334.f03t02