Study finds Celexa doesn't help against autism

Forest Laboratories' Celexa, part of a class of antidepressants widely prescribed for autistic children, didn't help reduce their repetitive behaviors and caused some of them to have nightmares, a government study found.

About one-third of the 149 children taking the drug showed an improvement in behavior, the research showed. An equal percentage showed improvement from a placebo.

Celexa, available as the generic medicine citalopram, belongs to the class of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs. these drugs to treat autism, though they aren't approved for this use and there's little evidence that they work, according to findings reported in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

Celexa "exhibited significant adverse effects without any evident therapeutic effects in children," said Fred Volkmar, director of the Yale Child Study Center at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn., in a commentary accompanying the study. "The medication does not appear to be useful for repetitive behaviors in children with autism and related conditions."

Frank Murdolo, a spokesman for Forest Laboratories, said the company wasn't involved in the study and had no comment.q