Months after Trump administration officials hyped a drug as a possible treatment for autism symptoms, one of the largest studies examining its effectiveness in this population has been retracted.<\/p>\n
The European Journal of Pediatrics posted a notice late last month indicating that it was withdrawing a study on leucovorin in children with autism due to inconsistencies in the data.<\/p>\n
The move comes as interest in leucovorin, a prescription form of folinic acid, runs high after it was highlighted during a government press conference<\/a> about autism last September. At the time, the Food and Drug Administration said it would work to approve the decades-old drug for cerebral folate deficiency, a neurological condition associated with autism features.<\/p>\n Advertisement – Continue Reading Below<\/p>\n \u201cThis action establishes the first FDA-recognized therapeutic for children with cerebral folate deficiency and autistic symptoms,\u201d officials with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in September. \u201cThe change will authorize treatment for children with ASD, with continued use if children show language, social, or adaptive gains.\u201d<\/p>\n When the announcement was made, autism experts cautioned that only a handful of small studies had been conducted on leucovorin as an autism treatment and larger scale trials would be needed to determine its effectiveness.<\/p>\n Now, one of the few existing studies is no more. The research, which was originally published in September 2024, looked at 77 children with autism and claimed<\/a> that those who took folinic acid for 24 weeks saw their symptoms improve.<\/p>\n