Memantine Improves Social Impairments in Youth With Autism

TUESDAY, Oct. 7, 2025 (HealthDay News) -- Memantine improves social impairments in youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), according to a study published online Oct. 1 in JAMA Network Open.Gagan Joshi, M.D., from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and colleagues examined the safety and efficacy of memantine for treating social impairments in youths with ASD in a 12-week placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial. The study population included 42 youths aged 8 to 17 years with ASD without intellectual disability who initiated treatment. The intention-to-treat efficacy analysis included 35 youths (16 treated with memantine and 19 with placebo).The researchers found that significantly more memantine- than placebo-treated participants met the response criteria (56.2 versus 21.0 percent; odds ratio, 4.8). Memantine was well tolerated; compared with placebo, adverse events were not significantly increased with memantine. Compared with healthy control participants, mean pregenual anterior cingulate cortex (pgACC) glutamate levels were significantly higher (95.5 versus 76.6 IU). In 54.0 percent of participants with ASD, pgACC glutamate levels were abnormally elevated, and they were associated with more treatment responders to memantine than placebo (80 versus 20 percent; odds ratio, 16.0). pgACC glutamate levels were highly efficient for identifying treatment response in receiver operating characteristic curve analysis."In our study, participants who responded to memantine showed improvements in social competence and a reduction in autism symptom severity, although they continued to experience milder features of autism," Joshi said in a statement. "Larger clinical trials could help assess memantine responses in broader populations with ASD."Several authors disclosed ties to the biopharmaceutical, medical technology, and publishing industries; one author has a patent pending and a second author receives royalties for patents.Abstract/Full TextEditorial.Sign up for our weekly HealthDay newsletter

Memantine Improves Social Impairments in Youth With Autism

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