How do people feel about the possibility for drug development that doesn't attempt to cure ASD but may temporarily relieve some of the negative symptoms we experience
I am a bioinformatician and was just looking at some immune system genes for work, which got me sidetracked to look at the role of certain DRB1 genes in ASD and the mechanisms behind it, which lead me to wonder what happens to people who have ASD and have to undergo treatment with immunosuppressive drugs for things like organ transplants. Which lead me to how rampamycin can relieve some ASD subjective (and objective) negative symptoms temporarily, but it is a horrible drug that no one can be on except for short courses and even then side effects are awful. I was wondering if people are trying to find drugs with similar mechanisms that only target the brain to avoid the other horrible symptoms. I thought based on mechanism that they would be most impactful if given to people young because they impact brain development, but I am also fascinated at how they relieve some symptoms in adults.
This led me to look at if anything is in clinical trials. I found a clinical trial for DT402, while its mechanism isn't the same, I think it would be pretty cool if it works.
I know people fret and worry about people trying to cure ASD, but I would absolutely love to be able to tone down some symptoms when I wanted to, just like I take prescription ADHD medication when I need to do certain tasks
Here is a link to the company that is developing the drug's PR fluff about it, there is a link to the actual registered clinical trial.
** Note to mods** I have no affiliation or interest in the company that is doing drug development, I am not advocating or even discussing drug use, I want to start a discussion about scientific advancement and how people feel about it
Posted Aug 21, 2026, 2:20 AM UTC