This Tuesday, September 15, 2020, the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM) took legal action against doctors prescribing non-indicated treatments to children with autism. The health authorities have been alerted by the president of the SOS Autism association, Olivia Cattan.
In total, according to the SOS Autism association, around fifty doctors are concerned: since 2012, around 5,000 children have received “treatments” probably aimed at improving the signs of autism, or even at treating this neurodevelopmental syndrome.
The ANSM deplores the prescription “over long periods (several months)“of”anti-infective drugs“(antibiotics, antifungals, antiparasitics, antivirals) and”heavy metal chelators“(substances believed to remove heavy metals from the body).
“Anti-infectives present a risk of the occurrence of undesirable effects, in particular during long-term exposure. In addition to digestive effects, they may be characterized by cardiovascular and skin disorders, as well as by other disorders specific to each antibiotic used.“underline the health authorities. In addition,”the use of antibiotics over a long period will contribute to the emergence of antibiotic resistance which will reduce the effectiveness of the treatment in the event of a proven infection“.
No curative drug treatment for autism
Conclusion: the ANSM “formally advises against these uses for which these drugs have no proof of their effectiveness and which expose these children to risks, in particular during prolonged use“.
The ANSM explains having “informed the public prosecutor of these practices of dangerous prescriptions“during the summer, but also the Orders of Physicians and Pharmacists as well as the National Health Insurance Fund (CNAM).
For its part, the SOS autism association hopes that the doctors concerned will be struck off: “parents, in a therapeutic impasse, get tricked and throw their money into “protocols” not scientifically proven“. Because, as recalled by Dr. Philippe Vella, director of drugs in neurology at the ANSM,”the autism spectrum disorders constitute a neurodevelopmental syndrome for which there is no curative drug treatment“.
Source: ANSM press release
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