Cholesterol drug proves effective against MS

A drug used to control cholesterol has been found to successfully and significantly reduce brain shrinkage within patients that have secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS). Simvastatin is a cheap and widely available drug that is used to control blood cholesterol, but now it could also be used to slow the advance of MS, according to scientists.

A new study, supported by the Biomedical Research Centre at University College London, with researchers from the London school of Hygiene and tropical Medicines, Imperial College London and Brighton and Sussex Medical School, has provided a different option for treating those diagnosed with SPMS.

Past clinical trials have tended to look at treatments for treating only the relapsing-remitting (RRMS) form of the disease, meaning that this new study is a great breakthrough that could broaden treatment options for those with SPMS. 

Dr Jeremy Chataway, lead author on the study - published in The Lancet - said that RRMS has around a dozen different treatments following on from clinical advancements made over the last two decades. However, SPMS has very few treatments available that modify the disease. The results from this study could prove to be the start of the development of an effective treatment.

Within the UK, there are around 100,000 people living with MS. Once they have had the disease for between ten and 15 years, around half of these people become secondary progressive. This means that they suffer from a greater degree of disability and their condition becomes slowly worse. There are not very many treatments available that stop this from happening.

Over a seven-year period, 140 patients with SPMS were treated with either 80mg doses of simvastatin or a placebo as part of the phase II study. Patients' brain atrophy was measured via magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. The atrophy rate over a year is approximately 0.6 per cent, however, this rate of shrinkage was found to be reduced by around 40 per cent in those treated with the drug.

The results also hinted at possible positive impacts on disability, however; the trial was not geared towards measuring this and further research would be needed to quantify this. The drugs were also generally well tolerated.