Suramin is a 100-year-old drug developed to treat African sleeping sickness and river blindness. Though it has been investigated for other diseases, including cancer, it is not approved for any therapeutic use in the United States.
However, a small, randomized clinical trial conducted by Robert Naviaux, MD, PhD , professor of medicine, pediatrics and pathology, and colleagues at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have found that a single intravenous dose of suramin produced dramatic, but transient, improvement of core symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Currently, there are no drugs approved for treating the core symptoms of ASD.
More broadly, the trial findings support the “cell danger response theory,” which posits that autism and other chronic conditions are fundamentally driven by metabolic dysfunction—and thus treatable. Naviaux and his co-authors propose larger, longer clinical trials to assess suramin (or similar drugs) as an ASD treatment.
Sauce
I saw this meme, and looked it up.
https://health.ucsd.edu/news/topics/Suramin-Autism/Pages/default.aspx
Note: "...a single intravenous dose of suramin produced dramatic, but transient, improvement of core symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD)."
"dramatic, but transient"...so a single intravenous dose is not the cure
Good point - I will edit my comment. But being a 100 year old drug, it's probably not expensive or overly difficult to manufacture.
True.