[Note: Shared for #AutisticHistory archive purposes. This is NOT An Autistic Ally.]
Date: December 03, 2012
Autism Speaks today announced an award to its not-for-profit affiliate DELSIA (Delivering Scientific Innovation for Autism) to establish a partnership between DELSIA and Seaside Therapeutics. The partnership’s goal is to discover biomarkers for the development of safe, effective and personalized treatments for autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
“Autism Speaks is extremely pleased to be funding DELSIA’s first award of $2 million to Seaside Therapeutics, a company that has shown a long-standing commitment to developing treatments for neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism spectrum disorder,” says Geri Dawson, Ph.D., chair of DELSIA’s board of managers and Autism Speaks chief science officer.
The Seaside partnership represents the inaugural award from Autism Speaks’ newly established venture philanthropy affiliate. DELSIA’s mission is to transform lives by ensuring that scientific breakthroughs are developed into products that improve health and quality of life of those affected by autism.
“We are enormously excited to be partnering with Seaside, a company at the forefront of autism medicines development,” adds Robert Ring, Ph.D. Dr. Ring is DELSIA’s president and Autism Speaks vice president of translational research. “Our partnership will help generate critical information that can be used to pinpoint which individuals with autism are most likely to respond to arbaclofen, one of the first treatments that has the potential to address the core social impairment associated with autism. This knowledge will have broader implications down the road for developing effective treatments for people with autism.”
DELSIA will provide $2 million in funding to support Seaside’s autism biomarker discovery program. It aims to identify gene and protein biomarkers that can predict response to autism treatments. Initially, the goal is to identify individuals likely to benefit from treatment with Seaside’s lead compound STX-209 (arbaclofen). At the same time, Seaside will be identifying biomarkers that can flag increased risk for side effects.
In previous studies, arbaclofen has shown promise in improving social and communication functions in those affected by autism and fragile X syndrome. Around 15 to 33 percent of those affected by fragile X also have ASD.
“This program is an investment towards personalized medicine in autism,” Dr. Ring says. The development of arbaclofen is the most advanced program in the current autism clinical pipeline. If successful, the program could deliver the first medical therapy for a core symptom of autism.
“This represents an exciting new avenue for moving autism research out of the laboratory and into the real world,” says Dr. Ring. “By accelerating the development of effective treatments, we are following in the footsteps of successful endeavors by organizations such as the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.”
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Note/Warning:
Autistic people have fought the inclusion of ABA in therapy for us since before Autism Speaks, and other non-Autistic-led autism organizations, started lobbying legislation to get it covered by insurances and Medicaid.
ABA is a myth originally sold to parents that it would keep their Autistic child out of an institution. Today, parents are told that with early intervention therapy their child will either be less Autistic or no longer Autistic by elementary school, and can be mainstreamed in typical education classes. ABA is very expensive to pay out of pocket. Essentially, Autism Speaks has justified the big price tag up front will offset the overall burden on resources for an Autistic’s lifetime. The recommendation for this therapy is 40 hours a week for children and toddlers.
The original study that showed the success rate of ABA to be at 50% has never been replicated. In fact, the study of ABA by United States Department of Defense was denounced as a failure. Not just once, but multiple times. Simply stated: ABA doesn’t work. In study after repeated study: ABA (conversion therapy) doesn’t work.
What more recent studies do show: Autistics who experienced ABA therapy are at high risk to develop PTSD and other lifelong trauma-related conditions. Historically, the autism organizations promoting ABA as a cure or solution have silenced Autistic advocates’ opposition. ABA is also known as gay conversion therapy.
The ‘cure’ for Autistics not born yet is the prevention of birth.
The ‘cure’ is a choice to terminate a pregnancy based on ‘autism risk.’ The cure is abortion. This is the same ‘cure’ society has for Down Syndrome.
This is eugenics 2021. Instead of killing Autistics and disabled children in gas chambers or ‘mercy killings’ like in Aktion T4, it’ll happen at the doctor’s office, quietly, one Autistic baby at a time. Different approaches yes, but still eugenics and the extinction of an entire minority group of people.
Fact: You can’t cure Autistics from being Autistic.
Fact: You can’t recover an Autistic from being Autistic.
Fact: You can groom an Autistic to mask and hide their traits. Somewhat. … however, this comes at the expense of the Autistic child, promotes Autistic Burnout (this should not be confused with typical burnout, Autistic Burnout can kill Autistics), and places the Autistic child at high risk for PTSD and other lifelong trauma-related conditions.
[Note: Autism is NOT a disease, but a neurodevelopmental difference and disability.]
Fact: Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism.
International Badass Activists 