Study Suggests that Researchers Critical of Earlier Types of Enzyme Therapy Were Incorrect
New research published in JAMA Network has evaluated the use of high-protease pancreatic therapy in 190 preschool children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to determine if it improved maladaptive behaviors such as irritability or agitation. High-protease pancreatic treatment was analyzed using the drug CM-AT, designed to enhance protein digestion, potentially leading to restoring the pool of essential amino acids. The study included a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled segment of 12 weeks, followed by an open-label segment of 24 weeks, totaling 36 weeks of research. The results demonstrated that CM-AT improved maladaptive behaviors, with statistically significant differences in irritability and agitation, as noted by the Aberrant Behavior Checklist. The authors suggest that the delayed-start analysis used in this study may prove to be an important tool to evaluate treatments for ASD. In the end, they found no safety issues with CM-AT, suggesting that this therapy may be a promising behavioral treatment for preschool children with ASD. Interestingly, a 2016 Spectrum article was highly skeptical of the CM-AT’s potential to correct enzyme shortages, support digestion and influence positive behaviors in children. However, this new study suggests this earlier critique could have been wrong to discount CM-AT’s benefits.
