The makers of a drug designed to correct an enzyme shortage
seen in some children with autism are testing the treatment in children with
autism who do not have that deficiency. If the drug works in these children, it
will come as a surprise to scientists who say the trial has no scientific
basis.
The New York-based drug company Curemark developed the drug,
known as CM-AT, for children with autism who have unusually low levels of
chymotrypsin, an enzyme needed to break down dietary protein into amino acids
the body cannot make on its own. The drug is a powdered blend of chymotrypsin
and similar enzymes that parents sprinkle on their child’s food. (Curemark
representatives declined to identify any of the other components of the drug)…
Joan Fallon, the company’s chief executive officer, says the
drug improved irritability in the participants of a trial completed in 2011.
The trial included 182 children with autism who had low chymotrypsin levels.
After 90 days of treatment, these children had become less socially withdrawn,
Fallon says.
Outside experts have long been skeptical of the therapy’s
premise. Their reason: Curemark has yet to publish any of the results. The fact
that the company is testing the treatment in children who don’t match the
original rationale is leaving experts even more nonplussed.
“If [the children] have normal chymotrypsin levels, why do
they need extra?” says Mark Corkins, pediatric gastroenterologist and professor
of pediatrics at the University of Tennessee in Memphis. “I’m scratching my
head; it doesn’t make sense to me.”
Curemark officials say the new trial’s scope was not their
idea, but rather a directive from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The company submitted its data to the agency as soon as the 2011 trial was
complete, says chief scientific officer Matthew Heil. He says the FDA then
asked Curemark to include children with autism who have normal levels of
chymotrypsin.
“That was surprising to us,” Heil says. “That was not part
of our original design or desire.”
Heil says the FDA wanted this information so they could pin
down the wording on the drug’s label. If it doesn’t work in children with
typical chymotrypsin levels, the drug’s label would reflect that limitation…
“I would be very cautious when someone’s been talking about
profound efficacy data for, what, five years now, and has never shared any of
it,” says Randall Carpenter, chief scientific officer of the Rett Syndrome
Research Trust, a Connecticut-based nonprofit organization.
Curemark officials say they have submitted an abstract to
present their data next May at the International Meeting for Autism Research.
They say they were waiting to present any data publicly until they had approval
from the FDA…
Experts say it is important for the company to track whether
the drug works the way it is proposed to. For example, if CM-AT boosts protein
digestion, then it should up the levels of amino acids in a child’s
bloodstream. “Show me that those change,” Corkins says…
Fallon says the trial’s researchers are not collecting those
data in the trial, but are monitoring the children for any digestive problems,
such as constipation or diarrhea.
At the least, the treatment is unlikely to be harmful,
because the body naturally makes digestive enzymes, Corkins says. “A
replacement enzyme, in theory, is probably a very safe thing.”
Courtesy of Doximity
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