Cholesterol treatment shows some potential in treatment for MS: study

A cheap cholesterol-lowering drug might be a potential new treatment for those with secondary progressive and untreatable multiple sclerosis, according to a study published in the journal Lancet.

Researchers in the United Kingdom tested Simvastatin, a generic pill known as a "statin," in 140 patients with secondary progressive MS.

No current drugs work on this type of MS, which is marked by steadily worsening symptoms and disability.

Over two years of study, the researchers found those on daily doses of the cholesterol-lowering drug had a 43 per cent lower rate of brain shrinkage than those on placebo.

Over a typical year, the brain shrinks by about .6 per cent in those with secondary progressive MS.

Those on the Simvastatin had a brain atrophy rate of .3 per cent a year, according to Dr. Jeremy Chataway of University College London Hospitals.

"We feel that atrophy is very important in driving neurological disability," Dr. Chataway wrote in an email to CTV News.

Doctors also say the saw small improvements in disability tests, and added that the drug was safe and well tolerated.

But the statins didnt affect brain lesions or relapse rates.

Professor John Greenwood at the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, who has been involved in this area of research, admits scientists dont know how a drug that removes cholesterol from the body might be slowing brain atrophy.

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Cholesterol treatment shows some potential in treatment for MS: study