A Phase 2 interventional study of Propranolol and Placebo in Autism Spectrum Disorder, Challenging Behaviour and Aggression, sponsored by Jeremy Veenstra-vanderweele. Recruiting at 2 sites in United States. Open to participants aged 12 Years to 40 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-09-01.
Sponsored by Jeremy Veenstra-vanderweele · Phase 2, Interventional, and Treatment
The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if propranolol can help reduce challenging behaviors associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder, including aggression, self-injury, and severe disruptive behaviors. Participants will be randomly assigned to receive either propranolol or a placebo (a look-alike substance that contains no drug) daily for 12 weeks. After the 12 weeks, all participants will have the opportunity to receive propranolol for an additional 12 weeks.
The study will evaluate the efficacy and safety of high dose propranolol in 60 male and female participants between the ages of 12 and 40 years who have a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and experience serious challenging behaviors. Participants must meet severity criteria, defined as a Clinical Global Impression Severity (CGI-S) score of 4 or higher and an Aberrant Behavior Checklist-2 Irritability/Agitation (ABC-I/A) score greater than 18. Participants will be randomly assigned to receive either propranolol or a placebo. Over the first 8 weeks, participants will gradually increase their study medication following a set schedule to find the highest dose they can tolerate (up to a maximum of 200 mg three times daily). This will be followed by 4 weeks at a steady dose. After completing the 12-week randomized phase, participants will be offered the option to learn their group assignment (propranolol or placebo) and continue into a 12-week open-label extension, where all participants will receive propranolol.
1,030 studies on the registry are indexed under Autistic Disorder; 266 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 60 is above the median of 49 across 811 interventional studies indexed under Autistic Disorder.
Browse Autistic Disorder studies →This is the only study on the registry with Jeremy Veenstra-vanderweele as lead sponsor.
Compared within Autistic Disorder, this study's primary condition as ClinicalTrials.gg classifies it; the registry's first condition term is Autism Spectrum Disorder. The counts are of registry records indexed under each term, refreshed daily. How we classify →
Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Exclusion Criteria:
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Able to become pregnant: from the first period until menopause, unless permanently unable to through surgery (removal of the womb, or of both ovaries or both fallopian tubes).
Criteria for people of childbearing potential usually ask for a negative pregnancy test and for contraception during the study and for a time after it.
Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.
Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.
A drug or device being studied in a clinical trial.
It may be new, or already approved and being studied for another use, dose or form. Criteria often leave out people who took part in another study of one within a recent period, commonly 30 days or five half-lives.
A recording of the heart’s electrical activity, taken with stickers on the chest, arms and legs. It takes a few minutes and does not hurt.
Childbearing potential
Able to become pregnant: from the first period until menopause, unless permanently unable to through surgery (removal of the womb, or of both ovaries or both fallopian tubes).
Criteria for people of childbearing potential usually ask for a negative pregnancy test and for contraception during the study and for a time after it.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Contraception
Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.
Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Informed consent
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Contraindication
A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Investigational drug or device
A drug or device being studied in a clinical trial.
It may be new, or already approved and being studied for another use, dose or form. Criteria often leave out people who took part in another study of one within a recent period, commonly 30 days or five half-lives.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
ECG (electrocardiogram)
A recording of the heart’s electrical activity, taken with stickers on the chest, arms and legs. It takes a few minutes and does not hurt.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Propranolol, oral, starting at 30 mg/day (10 mg TID), titrated weekly based on tolerability to a maximum of 600 mg/day (200 mg TID) by Week 8. Participants will remain on their highest tolerated dose for an additional 4 weeks.
Drug: Propranolol
Participants will receive oral placebo tablets matched in appearance and dosing schedule to Propranolol. The dose will be titrated weekly in parallel with the experimental arm, and participants will remain on the highest tolerated dose for an additional 4 weeks.
Drug: Placebo
Propranolol, oral, titrated in weekly increments from 10 mg TID to a maximum of 200 mg TID (total daily dose: 30 mg to 600 mg at 8 weeks), based on tolerability. Participants will continue at the highest tolerated dose for additional 4 weeks. Target doses: 10 mg, 40 mg, 80 mg, 120 mg, 160 mg, 200 mg TID.
Placebo for Propranolol
Incidence of safety concerns and side effects associated with high-dose propranolol, including changes in blood pressure, pulse, and occurrence of dysrhythmias.
Any participant reported side effects or adverse events will be monitored through weekly medical monitoring visits with the study safety physician. Participants will complete blinded home monitoring of blood pressure and pulse on the first three days each dosing week (baseline through end of treatment phase at 12 weeks), and pre- and post-intervention Holter monitoring will be completed for dysrhythmias (at screening and week 6)
Time frame: From baseline through end of treatment phase at 12 weeks
Evaluate propranolol for the treatment of severe behaviors in autistic adolescents and adults
Assessed using the Aberrant Behavior Checklist-Community (ABC-C) Irritability/Agitation Subscale. The ABC-C is a global behavior checklist that measures drug and other treatment effects in people with developmental disabilities. It is made up of five subscales, including Irritability, Lethargy, Inappropriate Speech, Hyperactivity, and Stereotypy based on 58 items that describe various behavioral problems. The Irritability/Agitation Subscale (15-item questionnaire) will serve as the primary dependent measure. Each item is rated on a 4-point Likert scale, ranging from 0 (not a problem) to 3 (severe problem). The scores will range from minimum value of 0 to maximum value of 45, with higher score indicating worse outcome. The scale will be rated every 2 weeks from baseline to end of treatment phase.
Time frame: Every 2 weeks from baseline through the end of the treatment phase at 12 weeks
To test whether those with a functional explanation for severe behaviors will respond to propranolol similarly to those with less evidence of functionally based behavior.
We hypothesize that participants who demonstrate greater environmentally mediated function(s) on the Questions about Behavior Function scale (QABF) scale will benefit less from propranolol. The QABF is an indirect assessment of behavioral function for individuals with developmental disabilities. It contains 25 items. The QABF yields five behavioral function categories: Access to Attention, Escape from Demands, Physical, Access to Tangible, and Nonsocial. Each question is scored with frequency descriptors of Never=0, Rarely=1, Some=2, and Often=3. Subscale scores can range from minimum value of 0 to maximum value of 15, with higher scores indicating a stronger influence of that specific behavioral function in maintaining the challenging behavior. The QABF will be administered every 4 weeks to examine whether challenging behavior serves a specific function and if so, examine whether propranolol potentially changes the function or the strength of those functions.
Time frame: Every 4 weeks from baseline through the end of the treatment phase at 12 weeks
Plan to share: Yes — Data from this study may be submitted to the NIMH Data Archive (NDA). NDA is a computer system run by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) that allows researchers to collect and share information with each other. During and after the study, the researchers will send health and behavioral information about the subject, in some cases, the subject's genetic information, to NDA. However, before they send it to NDA, names, addresses, phone numbers, and other identifiable information will be removed, and replaced that information with a code number called a Global Unique Identifier (GUID). Other researchers nationwide can then file an application with the National Institutes of Health to obtain access to this study data for research purposes.
Supporting information: Clinical study report
Access criteria: Only approved researchers with NDA access will be able to use the data
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Studies of the drug tested here: Propranolol