This article was published last week which reviews Alzheimer's meds in ASD context.
http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/...

Almost all psych drugs have been tested in ASD as well and most of these have not done well. Not reviewed here.

I do know one parent that use both namenda and galantamine which are reviewed in the article above; however they do have 15q duplication as well in addition to ASD.

I agree that a lot of the testing is really so what else can we try off label right away based on some hypothesis. There are also experimental drugs (one failed and one doing well) that are being fast tracked by FDA as well but not quite there yet.

I'll retract my loose comments above. After a couple hours nose deep in the primary literature it's clear that the basis for looking at galantamine as a ASD therapeutic is tenuous and controversial at best.

Above is not accurate - the pathway is of interest in ASD for three main reasons that I am aware of (there are likely half a dozen reasons). One is chromosomal 15q duplication which is a genetic condition that has high comorbidity with autism which in research is known to impact the nicotinic receptors. The second main reason is that this pathway is anti inflammatory and reduces TNF alpha (which is also shown to be high in ASD). The third would be this receptor has been associated with attention and working memory (which is main cognitive impairment in Alzheimer's) and this of therapeutic interest in ASD as well. Nicotine patch is also another thing to try for this and also impacts this receptor (used for ADHD by some). We don't have attention or working memory issues, so haven't really considered it.

I don't like that both control and treatment group were taking resperidone either. There is a pilot study as well on galantamine and ASD. Obviously need more studies which is why recruiting.

Personally, I agree that this pathway is likely not an issue for most in ASD (aside from 15q which we don't have) but that doesn't mean it is not therapeutically useful to target nicotinic receptors.

I do know of one parent that tried it with their 6 year old son and thought it helped with focus and attention. There are at least couple of studies on it in ASD context including a double study that showed efficacy. It is a cholineterase inhibitor which allows more acetylcholine to stay in the brain - which can be useful for some brain functions.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24132248/

We haven't tried it. There is also an OTC supplement Galantamind that is similar which one can get without prescription and some parents have tried that instead. The safety profile seems pretty good but not every kid will respond positively to it. I don't think we would benefit so haven't tried it.

No my son is not going on it either. I was just curious because the medical school here is doing clinical trials. I had not heard of this drug before and wanted to know what it was.