Promising Treatment

Families affected by fragile X syndrome can let out a modest cheer this week: the largest-ever randomized trial of a drug to treat the syndrome has just cleared its second phase.The drug, dubbed STX209, is further along than any other treatment for an autism-related disorder. If it passes the next, more rigorous testing phase, it could be in clinics within a few years.At a meeting on Saturday of the National Fragile X Foundation, Seaside Therapeutics, a small biotech in Cambridge, Massachusetts, announced that in 15 children who had both fragile X syndrome and severe social impairments, STX209 significantly improved scores on several tests of social behaviors.Read more at...SFARI, July 2010.