Despite Little Research, Companies Race to Market Autism Tests
The New York Times••general
Key Points:
- Several new commercial tests claim to predict autism risk in infants based on biological markers such as hair strands, skin cells, and maternal antibodies, but their scientific validity remains unproven.
- These tests have not undergone large-scale clinical trials or regulatory evaluation, raising concerns among experts about their reliability and potential to mislead parents.
- The commercialization of these early-stage research findings has accelerated amid increased federal attention and funding for autism, partly driven by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s prioritization of neurodevelopmental disorders.
- Experts like neuroscientist Joseph Buxbaum caution that these tests are still experimental and not ready for clinical use, contrasting them with established genetic tests that can identify autism-related variants in a minority of cases.
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