Kennedy’s New Autism Research Program Aims to Speed Diagnoses

HHS launched a new research effort on Thursday to change how autism is diagnosed through the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), the agency announced.

The Systems for Phenotypic Evaluation, Clinical Trajectories, Response, and Agency (SPECTRA) program will integrate biological, clinical, behavioral, and real-world data to enable earlier diagnoses, identify factors involved in developmental trajectories, and advance personal approaches to autism care, according to HHS.

“Autism is not one-size-fits-all, and our science and care cannot be either,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stated. “SPECTRA will harness the best of American science and innovation to deliver those answers and turn them into better outcomes for people with autism and their families,” he said in a news release.

“Over the past decade, we have become much better at recognizing autism and the substantial differences among people across the spectrum. Yet our approaches to assessment and care have not kept pace, and they overlook the behavioral and biological complexity of each person,” added Russell Shilling, PhD, SPECTRA’s program manager. “SPECTRA is designed around that complexity.”

The program aims to integrate genetic factors, exposome and epigenetic features, microbiome biology, and other variables to create computational models of autism subtypes. Researchers will then develop a system that can identify autism risk factors, match individuals to appropriate interventions, and accelerate clinical research for new adaptive therapies, HHS said.

“This new ARPA-H initiative is a unique opportunity for the autism research community,” noted Helen Tager-Flusberg, PhD, of Boston University and founder of the Coalition of Autism Scientists.

“It offers major funding to incorporate technology into clinical practices and interventions in innovative ways,” Tager-Flusberg told MedPage Today. “As long as the review process is grounded in science and the projects are conducted by experienced researchers, following rigorous best practices, I am optimistic that this could be transformative.”

Since taking office, Kennedy has focused on environmental causes of autism after years of promoting claims that vaccines cause the condition, despite decades of evidence to the contrary. Skepticism about his agenda led researchers and advocacy leaders to establish an independent board this year to coordinate work among nongovernment autism research funders and create a scientific agenda for the autism community.

About 1 in 31 children age 8 in the U.S. have been identified with autism spectrum disorder, according to the CDC. Autism assessments often happen after developmental differences emerge, and late diagnosis is common.

The ARPA-H program comes a year after HHS announced a $50 million Autism Data Science Initiative, which awarded funds to 13 autism research projects to identify autism causes and improve outcomes.

ARPA-H said it wants solutions in four technical areas: analysis, modeling, precision intervention, and enabling technologies. Solicitation documents, submission requirements, and deadlines are detailed on the SPECTRA website.