High Dose of Statins Could Control Multiple Sclerosis Progress, Researchers Find

Cholesterol-lowering drugs called Statins could also help people in an advanced stage of multiple sclerosis, according to a new study.

Researchers at the University College London (UCL) conducted a phase II proof of concept study to look at the effects of high dosage of the drug on brain shrinkage due to secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS).

Statins are used to lower the levels of bad cholesterol (LDL) in the body. Some 30 million people in the U.S. use the drug. Statins are quite popular and have made over $19 billion in domestic sales. The drugs are known to slow down delirium in old people, but are linked with increased risk of eye diseases.

Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease that affects the brain and spinal cord. Some 250,000 to 350,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with MS. Advanced stages of the disease lead to worsening of symptoms.

The study was based on a group of 140 people suffering from SPMS. Participants were given either 80mg dose of simvastatin or a placebo drug. Researchers then looked at the brain scans of the participants to see whether or not the drug arrested brain shrinkage.

"We found the drugs were well tolerated, and that they reduced the rate of shrinkage by about 40%, which is really quite dramatic. There was also hints of an effect on disability, but as the trial was not powered with this in mind, this finding can only be described as exploratory," Dr Jeremy Chataway, lead author of the study, said in a news release.

"Although there was no immunological effects, simvastatin may have a vascular-protective role, and crucially perhaps, a neuroprotective role - as shown by reducing the rate of brain shrinkage," Chataway added.

The study is published in the journal The Lancet.

The researchers will now take the drug to late phase III trial to assess the duration of the efficacy of the drug.