Study: Celexa Fails To Beat Placebo As Autism Treatment

A new NIH-funded study is out in the Archives of General Psychiatry and it looked into the efficacy of using Celexa as a treatment for repetitive behaviors in autism spectrum disorders (anti-depressants are somewhat commonly used in ASD cases). Here's what researchers determined:

"Results:

"There was no significant difference in the rate of positive response on the Clinical Global Impressions, Improvement subscale between the citalopram-treated group (32.9%) and the placebo group (34.2%) (relative risk, 0.96; 95% confidence interval, 0.61-1.51; P > .99). There was no difference in score reduction on the Children's Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scales modified for pervasive developmental disorders from baseline (mean [SD], –2.0 [3.4] points for the citalopram-treated group and –1.9 [2.5] points for the placebo group; P = .81). Citalopram use was significantly more likely to be associated with adverse events, particularly increased energy level, impulsiveness, decreased concentration, hyperactivity, stereotypy, diarrhea, insomnia, and dry skin or pruritus."

In scientific terms, that's a complete wipeout for Celexa and I've got to wonder what some in the autism community will make of the study. I make the latter point because after CBS News last week aired a report on Risperdal leading to breast development in young boys some in autism community went absolutely batshit on CBS News for daring to point out that an approved treatment for autism had serious problems (even though most of the kids in the report were getting Risperdal for ADHD and bipolar). To whit, from the Autism Science Foundation blog's Alison Singer:

"Reporter Sharyl Attkisson has had some outrageous pieces on the CBS Evening News, but her story Sunday night about risperdal has to be the most desperate. Apparently ridiculing the life-saving value of vaccines is not enough, and she has now moved on to poo poo the only drug FDA approved for children with autism, because, tragically, a handful of children experienced a well known, but highly unfortunate side effect; increased level of the hormone prolactin. For Ms. Attkisson, any product that comes out of a pharmaceutical company is just inherently bad, no matter how well tested or efficacious, no matter how many lives it saves, enhances or improves."

Gynecomastia is hardly a well-known side effect, as Singer claims, and it's appropriate for a news organization to do a story on it. But you've got to wonder if Singer will go after the researchers of the Celexa study.