Measuring the outcome of clinical trials

Recent articles

Featured articles

Several arrows have fallen short of their target, which is a pill on a bullseye. This image suggests that a drug targeted towards autism's symptoms has not yet been made.

Why don’t we have better drugs for autism?

Clinical trials for autism drugs have been plagued with problems: bad design, the wrong measures, too broad a range of participants. All that is finally starting to change.

By Rachel Zamzow
15 February 2017 | 18 min read

Questions for Gahan Pandina: New tool may aid autism trials

A new ‘knowledge engine’ collects reams of behavioral and sensory data to create highly sensitive outcome measures for autism drugs.

By Nicholette Zeliadt
14 February 2017 | 6 min read

Despite setbacks, fragile X drugs file into clinical trials

Our infographic displays efforts to develop treatments for fragile X syndrome. So far, none of them have passed muster in clinical trials.

By Jessica Wright
30 November 2016 | 3 min read

From the archives

Someone writes descriptions on gridded paper, the paper is in the shape of a child's silhouette.

The innovators: How families launch their own autism studies

Some parents are starting ‘N-of-1’ studies for autism, but their efforts don’t always get taken seriously.

By Carrie Arnold
28 September 2016 | 20 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Questions for James McPartland: Biomarkers for better trials

A $28 million initiative aims to develop objective tools for tracking social skills in children with autism. The initiative’s leader outlines its approach.

By Rachel Zamzow
22 September 2015 | 5 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Devising spectrum of tests for different types of autism

Finding biomarkers for different forms of autism may lead to more effective treatments for each.

By Eva Loth
16 February 2016 | 5 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Better behavioral tests may save trials of autism treatments

Trials to test drugs for autism suffer from subjective measurements and placebo effects. Helen Tager-Flusberg outlines how to ferret out the true effects of potential autism therapies.

By Helen Tager-Flusberg
21 April 2015 | 1 min read

Some people in ‘failed’ drug trial for autism showed benefit

An experimental drug called arbaclofen improved autism features in about 13 percent of people who took it in a shuttered clinical trial.

By Jessica Wright
14 December 2016 | 4 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Questions for Eric Klann: Translating treatments for fragile X

Treatments for fragile X syndrome may be more successful if they block direct targets of the key missing protein, says Eric Klann.

By Jessica Wright
30 March 2015 | 4 min read
A pill opens up to reveal a puff of smoke, suggesting that pharmaceuticals aren't offering much as promised.

Why trials of autism treatments have a placebo problem

People with autism — and their family members — are susceptible to powerful placebo effects. Some researchers are using the problem to better understand this mystifying phenomenon.

By Erik Vance
30 November 2016 | 17 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Questions for Elizabeth Berry-Kravis: Measuring drug effects

Drugs designed to treat fragile X syndrome have yet to show substantial benefits in people. But rather than abandon them, child neurologist Elizabeth Berry-Kravis suggests a new way to measure their effectiveness.

By Nicholette Zeliadt
17 February 2015 | 5 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Better tools needed to assess clinical trials

The past few years have seen an unprecedented number of clinical trials for experimental drugs to treat autism-related disorders, most notably for fragile X syndrome. But as the trials progress, scientists are calling for better methods to measure the drugs’ effectiveness.

By Emily Singer
14 May 2012 | 6 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

Photograph of the BRIDGE team and students visiting a laboratory.

Sharing Africa’s brain data: Q&A with Amadi Ihunwo

These data are “virtually mandatory” to advance neuroscience, says Ihunwo, a co-investigator of the Brain Research International Data Governance & Exchange (BRIDGE) initiative, which seeks to develop a global framework for sharing, using and protecting neuroscience data.

By Lauren Schenkman
20 May 2025 | 6 min read
Research image of neurite overgrowth in cells grown from people with autism-linked PPP2R5D variants.

Cortical structures in infants linked to future language skills; and more

Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 19 May.

By Jill Adams
20 May 2025 | 2 min read
Digitally distorted building blocks.

The BabyLM Challenge: In search of more efficient learning algorithms, researchers look to infants

A competition that trains language models on relatively small datasets of words, closer in size to what a child hears up to age 13, seeks solutions to some of the major challenges of today’s large language models.

By Alona Fyshe
19 May 2025 | 7 min read