6p-a-day drug could change the lives of MS sufferers
Cholestrol pill could prove a breakthrough
A DRUG costing just 6p a day could revolutionise treatment for patients with multiple sclerosis.
Trials are under way at various centres around the country to determine if Simvastatin – a common drug used to control cholesterol in patients at risk of heart attacks or strokes – could hold the key to slowing down brain deterioration.
One of those centres is the Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic in Edinburgh where neurologist Dr Pete Connick is involved in carrying out a blind trial of patients.
While there have been treatment options for patients with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis, until now there have been no treatments which can tackle the disease for those with progressive MS.
Most people in Scotland living with MS have the progressive form of the disease.
Connick said: “They often feel like the lost tribe, both with the clinical access to services and research.
“We have treatments which tackle the symptoms of it but we don’t have treatments which can tackle the disease itself.
“That’s something very well known by patients and doctors and is a real challenge to everyone.
“The diagnosis that someone has entered the progressive phase is very much a breaking bad news consultation.
“We are saying to people we now no longer have effective treatments. Over time, they will slowly become more disabled. Patients, doctors and researchers all agree the No1 priority is drugs that can slow, stop – or hopefully reverse – progression in MS. That’s the focus of the MS Stat 2 Trial. It is the first treatment that would do that. “Drug re-purposing has become a real place of interest, especially in academia because drug development is an expensive thin. But many drugs are off-patent and available as generics, so they are cheaper to use to test if they are applicable to a new disease.” ●To donate to the Stop MS appeal or find out more, visit mssociety.org. uk/stop or text FUTURE6 to 70800 to donate £5.