Cholesterol Drug Might Help Slow MS Progression

By Steven Reinberg HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, March 18, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- High doses of the cholesterol-lowering drug simvastatin -- sold under the brand name Zocor -- appeared to slow brain shrinkage in patients with multiple sclerosis, according to a small, early study from England.

In patients with the secondary progressive (chronic) stage of multiple sclerosis, brain shrinkage was reduced 43 percent for those taking Zocor compared to patients taking placebos, the researchers said.

"This effect is provisional and requires a larger phase 3 study, but holds promise for all types of MS," said Dr. Jacqueline Palace, a consultant neurologist with Oxford University Hospitals and co-author of an accompanying journal editorial.

"Because it is a repurposed drug and already has a good safety profile and is cheap, it could become available fairly quickly if further studies confirm the suggested effect," Palace said.

The report was published in the March 19 online edition of the journal The Lancet.

Zocor is part of a class of drugs known as statins, which are commonly prescribed for patients with high cholesterol.

Although how Zocor works to reduce brain shrinkage isn't known, Palace speculated that the drug might protect the brain by targeting inflammation.

However, Dr. Emmanuelle Waubant, a professor of clinical neurology and pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco, questioned whether the reduction in brain shrinkage was due to Zocor or some other factors.

In her own research with MS patients using another cholesterol-lowering drug, Lipitor, Waubant did see a reduction in the development of brain lesions, something that these researchers didn't see. "That is very surprising," she said.

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Cholesterol Drug Might Help Slow MS Progression