GAMECHANGER?

New Study Finds $3 Pill May Help Turn Off Autism Symptoms in Mice

Scientists found that the common epilepsy drug lamotrigine curbed behavioral and social issues in mice.

Lamotrigine, a $3 pill used to treat epilepsy in the U.S. since 1994, has shown promising potential to treat autism following a study on mice. In a peer-reviewed paper published Tuesday in Molecular Psychiatry, scientists at Germany’s Hector Institute for Translational Brain Research found that the drug, commercialized as Lamictal, curbed behavioral and social issues linked to autism. Autism spectrum disorder affects the perception and socialization of others, and is sometimes accompanied by epilepsy and hyperactivity. It affects about 5.4 million adults and about one child out of 44 in the U.S., according to the CDC. “Apparently, drug treatment in adulthood can alleviate brain cell dysfunction and thus counteract the behavioral abnormalities typical of autism,” Moritz Mall, the lead researcher and cellular biologist, said in a statement, according to the New York Post. “[This occurs] even after the absence of MYT1L has already impaired brain development during the developmental phase of the organism.”