The drug Trump plans to promote for autism shows real (and fragile) hope

When Nathaniel Schumann first entered the clinical trial for children with autism, he was 8 years old and considered nonverbal. He communicated through gestures and sounds, which his parents were skilled at interpreting. But two weeks after receiving his first dose of the study pill, Nathaniel began to speak — not just words, but full sentences.

“The first thing we noticed is kind of funny: He had a laundry list of things that bothered him,” his mother, Kathleen Schnier, said.

Anecdotes such as Nathaniel’s have begun to circulate with increasing urgency through online parenting forums and autism support networks. At the center of these accounts is a decades-old drug, leucovorin, a form of vitamin B9, which is also known as folate. It has been traditionally used as an antidote to toxic effects of a certain cancer drug.