hey, pharm companies found a "cure"...says the same New England journal that recently decided to lower its standards and publish articles by authors who receive fees from pharm companies...
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/reuters20020731_579.html
July 31
— BOSTON (Reuters) - Risperidone, a drug prescribed for schizophrenia and other mental problems, can quiet many of the behavioral problems in children with autism, according to a study in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.
Autism, a mysterious condition usually found in boys, causes as many as 20 in 10,000 children to become detached from the world. The youngsters are also known to throw tantrums for no obvious reason, become aggressive and try to hurt themselves.
Haloperidol is sometimes prescribed to counter those behavior problems, but doctors often shy away from the drug because of its side effects.
In the new study, led by Dr. Lawrence Scahill of Yale University, doctors there and at four other medical centers found that 69 percent of the 49 children who received risperidone were less irritable and better behaved, compared with just 12 percent of the 52 youngsters who received placebo.
Risperidone, sold under the brand name Risperdal by Janssen Pharmaceutica Products, a wholly owned subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, had some significant side effects.
The children who got the drug tended to gain nearly a pound (0.45 kg) a week because their appetites increased. More than half developed mild or moderate fatigue, but their tiredness usually subsided after a few weeks, as did other side effects such as dizziness, drooling, tremor and constipation.
In contrast, haloperidol, which is made by several manufacturers, causes excessive sleepiness in 78 percent of the autistic children who receive it, according to previous studies.
"Risperidone was safe and effective for the short-term treatment of tantrums, aggression and self-injurious behavior in children with autistic disorder," the researchers concluded.
The study did not look at whether combining the drug with behavior treatments could be even more effective.
