NPR · 30 days ago

Parents Demand Leucovorin for Autism, but Doctors Are Torn

When a federal press conference last fall suggested that leucovorin - a cancer medication - could help "hundreds of thousands" of children with autism, parents like Swathi Balantrapu, who had already spent $40,000 annually on stem-cell treatments in Germany, found new hope. The announcement triggered an explosion of demand, spawning Facebook groups with tens of thousands of members sharing doctor referrals, even as major medical associations pushed back against prescribing a drug with insufficient evidence for autism treatment. Now doctors face an agonizing calculus: refuse to prescribe and lose patients to providers who will, or write prescriptions that may preserve trust but erode the very foundation of evidence-based medicine. "At what point do we draw the line?" asks Dr. Shafali Jeste, who sees the desperation daily - nine patients in one day, eight asking about the drug. The story reveals how easily hope and authority can collide, leaving parents navigating treatment alone and doctors asking themselves where love for a child ends and medical responsibility begins.