I agree with DevilKisses--there are probably lots of similar conditions grouped under the term "autism," rather than just one condition. They've been doing genetic studies and have identified hundreds of different genes that may be associated with autistic symptoms. It's probably the reason why there is so much variation in severity and symptoms. Spontaneous mutations tend to be more severe, and inherited versions more mild, which makes sense--people with mild cases are more likely to be sexually active and have kids, and pass it on.
Also, I am having a hard time imagining a pill working, but it's hard to say at this point. I think they are only just now starting to understand what is happening in an autistic brain and how it's different. Some of it actually sounds like structural differences--there's more fibers in the white matter of autistic people, which is the stuff that connects different parts of the brain. The brains of NT children typically "prune" out some of these connections as they age, so that NT adults have a lot less fibers in their white matter than small children. It might be why autistics love patterns and order, and are good at seeing how things interact or seeing errors and other changes, and why they have a harder time with "big picture" thinking--seeing a system as a whole, such as how a person is showing their emotions.
Functional MRIs are scans that show the activity of a brain when the person is asked to think about something or experience a sensation like hearing or seeing something. It shows what parts of the brain are most active during this activity. fMRIs show that autistic people have greatly reduced pre-frontal cortex activity (which recognizes emotions in others), defects in the superior temporal gyrus (language processing), and different function in the amygdala (which controls emotion).
I think that a pill might not be effective in treating physical differences in the brain, although it might help increase efficiency in chemical reactions like neurotransmitters. Some treatments might be more effective for young children, to at least make their symptoms milder.
As for whether we should? I don't know. I'm not sure if I would really want to tamper with my brain function that much, but I'm not going to tell other people whether they should seek this sort of treatment.
_________________
Diagnosed Bipolar II in 2012, Autism spectrum disorder (moderate) & ADHD in 2015.