In 2025, 47,394 children received 150,026 leucovorin prescriptions. This represents a weekly spike of children with leucovorin prescriptions, from 734 to 5,858, a 700% increase. More prescriptions were given to children ages 6 to 11 living in the southern United States than in other regions. At the same time, the researchers didn’t observe changes in leucovorin prescriptions for adults. “Our findings demonstrate the power of the federal government to influence medical practice,” Chua said. “Given this power, it is important that the government’s messaging about medications is based on rigorous evidence.”‘Distracting and confusing’Some people in the autism community worried that suggesting that leucovorin could treat autism could be harmful. “It’s very concerning for several reasons. The largest one being that we need our government to be a reassuring voice connecting families to the scientific evidence and pointing people in the right direction of what’s best for children,” Zoe Gross, director of advocacy at the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, told CIDRAP News. “This is not that,” she added. This is telling people to go all in on a random thing that probably doesn’t work.” The American Academy of Pediatrics says that more research is needed to examine who might benefit from leucovorin and whether it’s safe and effective. “When the administration made that recommendation, the evidence wasn’t strong enough,” Gross said. In February 2026, the largest study on leucovorin and autism was retracted. “The evidence is even weaker than it was.” Gross would rather see the federal government focus on supporting services for autistic people across the lifespan. The One Big Beautiful Bill significantly cut funding to Medicaid and home and community-based services, which help many autistic people remain independent.“These (services) are provided to people of all ages. They’re provided to people who need help with activities of daily living. That’s many autistic people,” Gross said. “For many people, these services are the difference between living where they choose and being forced to live in an institution.” She said the administration’s focus on autism has created a lot of misunderstanding. “It’s distracting and confusing for anyone, especially new parents who are making decisions about, for example, their children’s vaccines or vaccines schedules and are being told that vaccines may cause autism—even though that’s not true,” Gross said. “It’s concerning for parents of autistic kids who are now essentially being blamed for their kids’ autism and pointed in the direction of fake treatments.”
