The aim of the current study was to determine whether a selective GABAA-α5 PAM, alogabat (also known as RO7017773 or RG7816), would produce beneficial effects in animal models relevant to autism-like repetitive behavior—specifically BTBR mice (McFarlane et al., 2008) and contactin-associated protein-like 2 [Cntnap2−/−] homozygous knockout mice (Penagarikano et al., 2011)—and anti-seizure activity, without the typical side effects of non-selective GABAA PAMs, such as sedation and cognitive impairment. Here, CNTNAP2 is linked to Cognitive impairment.