Statins slow the progression of advanced multiple sclerosis in clinical trial

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-03/icl-sst031714.php

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 18-Mar-2014

Contact: Franca Davenport
Imperial College London

Statins slow the progression of advanced multiple sclerosis in clinical trial

Statins may provide doctors with an unlikely new weapon with which to slow the progression of multiple sclerosis (MS).

No treatments can currently abate the advanced stage of the disease, known as secondary progressive MS, which gradually causes patients to become more disabled.

In a two-year clinical trial involving 140 patients with secondary progressive MS, the drug simvastatin slowed brain shrinkage, which is thought to contribute to patients' impairments. Supporting this finding, patients on simvastatin achieved better scores on movement tests and questionnaires that assess disability than patients taking a placebo.

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