The Trump administration is expected to unveil new efforts Monday exploring how one medication may be linked to autism and another one can treat it, according to four people with knowledge of the plans who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the announcement was not yet public.
Federal health officials are expected to raise concerns about pregnant women’s use of acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol and one of the most widely used medications globally. Officials have been reviewing previous research — including an August review by Mount Sinai and Harvard researchers — that suggests a possible link between Tylenol use early on in pregnancy and an increased risk of autism in children. They plan to warn pregnant women against using Tylenol early on unless they have a fever, according to the four individuals.
In addition, officials plan to tout a lesser-known drug, leucovorin, as a potential autism treatment. Leucovorin is typically prescribed to counteract some medications’ side effects and to treat vitamin B9 deficiency. Early double-blind, placebo-controlled trials administering leucovorin to children with autism have shown what some scientists describe as remarkable improvements in their ability to speak and understand others. Officials at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have recently been reviewing language that could apply to the drug.
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