WASHINGTON (AP) — When President Donald Trump’s administration announced it would repurpose an old, generic drug as a new treatment for autism, it came as a surprise to many experts — including the physician who suggested the idea to the nation’s top health officials.
Dr. Richard Frye told The Associated Press that he’d been talking with federal regulators about developing his own customized version of the drug for children with autism, assuming more research would be required.
“So we were kinda surprised that they were just approving it right out of the gate without more studies or anything,” said Frye, an Arizona-based child neurologist who has a book and online education business focused on the experimental treatment.
President Donald Trump speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Monday, Sept. 22, 2025, in Washington, as from left, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Marty Makary, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, Dr. Dorothy Fink, acting assistant secretary for health, and Jackie O’Brien, listen. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
It’s another example of the haphazard rollout of the Trump administration’s Monday announcement on autism, which critics say has elevated an unproven drug that needs far more study before being approved as a credible treatment for the complex brain disorder.
A spokesperson for the Republican administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday morning.
Source: apnews.com