The challenge: Children with autism struggle with social interaction. No medications have been shown to treat social deficits in autism.
The solution: Bloorview receives a prestigious $805,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to conduct a randomized clinical trial to see if Oxytocin – a hormone released during women’s labour and milk let-down – improves social functioning in teens with autism.
How it works: The first phase of the study identifies optimum dose. The second phase is a randomized trial of 60 adolescents with autism aged 12 to 18 who will take the hormone in a nose spray in the morning and afternoon for three months. Thirty teens participate at Bloorview, and 30 at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
The impact: “If at the end of the process we’ve found a compound that has a direct effect on social function and skills, the impact will be huge,” says Dr. Evdokia Anagnostou, child neurologist and lead researcher.
