Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has handed the reins of federal autism research to a doctor with a commercial stake in one of the administration’s favorite autism treatments. As STAT’s Amanda Erickson reports, the HHS secretary has installed pediatric neurologist John Gaitanis as chair of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, the panel that helps the federal government decide how to allocate roughly $2 billion in autism research.
Gaitanis recently began a stint at the National Institutes of Health’s Child Health Institute, but he’s best known for co-founding Meadow Biosciences. The telehealth startup is built around helping autistic kids access leucovorin, a drug President Trump touted at a news conference last year even though the clinical evidence that it improves speech is sparse.
The regulatory picture isn’t much rosier. In March, the FDA approved leucovorin only for cerebral folate deficiency in patients with confirmed variants in the folate receptor 1 (FOLR1) gene, not for autism itself, and the largest randomized trial of the drug in autistic children was retracted over data errors, according to Medical Daily. It’s also unclear whether Gaitanis still holds a financial stake in Meadow, or what ethics agreements govern his new role.
The committee doesn’t award grants directly, but its nonbinding guidance shapes the research priorities that funding agencies weigh, which makes the chair an influential seat.
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Gaitanis replaces Sylvia Fogel, who will remain on the council. During her tenure as chair, Fogel got into testy exchanges with fellow committee members, pushed to double autism research funding, and oversaw a new strategic plan that ditches genetic research in favor of investigating environmental causes, including vaccines.
