New drug trial in Auckland could make life easier for autistic children

NEW ZEALAND New drug trial in Auckland could make life easier for autistic children Bridget and Jack Carter say a new drug being trialled for children with autism could make a huge difference to people like their sons Cameron, left, and Nathan. Photo / Supplied Two new drugs being trialled in Auckland could help autistic youngsters focus better at school, interact with others more comfortably and hold down a job, researchers are hoping. The new medications, which work by altering the bacteria in a person’s gut, are being trialled in Auckland, Sydney and Brisbane. Dr Stewart Campbell, senior vice president of preclinical research and development at Axial Biotherapeutics, said studies had found children with autism produced high levels of particular metabolites which were much lower or not present at all in the gut of other children. Studies showed those substances caused mice to behave in the same way as mice bred with an autistic profile, he said. Campbell said the two medications, a carbon-based drug and a probiotic, aimed to either mop up the harmful metabolites like a sponge or change the behaviour of other gut bacteria so they produced less of the substance. "If those [substances] are exacerbating the problem, what if we took them out of the gut and prevented them from getting to the brain and wreaking havoc," he said. "We think there’s an underlying anxiety component that seems to be operating in a lot of kids with autism. When anybody gets anxious it manifests in all types of behaviours. In autistic kids it seems to come out in classic autism behaviours of repetitive motion and social withdrawal and things like that. "So we think that if we can just damp down the anxiety level maybe it would have a downstream impact where some of these […]

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