London - Statins may help patients with advanced MS – a disease which is currently untreatable.
A high, daily dose of the cheap anti-cholesterol drug simvastatin has been found to almost halve brain shrinkage over two years compared with a dummy pill.
Long-term studies suggest that progressive brain shrinkage in MS patients leads to increasing levels of disability.
In the research published in the Lancet, 140 patients with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis were given either 80mg of simvastatin – costing just £2 (about R90) a month – or a placebo for two years.
Brain MRI scans showed a reduction in the average shrinkage from around 0.6 percent a year to 0.3 percent with simvastatin.
MS is the most common disabling neurological condition, affecting almost 100 000 Britons, and involves damage to the central nervous system causing the immune system to attack itself.
Symptoms start with mild, occasional numbness and muscle weakness. However within ten to 15 years of diagnosis, more than half of patients develop secondary progressive MS – a steady worsening of symptoms which eventually leads to serious disability. It has so far resisted treatment with existing drugs.
Study leader Jeremy Chataway, of University College London Hospitals, said the “promising results warrant further investigation.” - Daily Mail