Why Aren’t There Good Drugs for Autism?
Despite a condition affecting hundreds of thousands and being represented by pressure groups made up of highly motivated parents, very few drug companies have treatments for autism as part of their reasearch goals.
XConomy.com published an interesting article enquiring into the reasons for the lack of good drugs for autism. The sheer complex range of the symptoms of autism are part of the factor. However, the article does report on an interesting development in relation to the possible use of oxytocin as an autism treatment. The problem with oxytocin is that it degrades in the blood stream in a matter of minutes. One drug company (Anatrope) is trying the route of researching with a molecule very similar to oxytocin - Carbetocin, which lasts up to 4 hours in the blood stream and could be inhumed via a nasal spray.
