The drug may also protect the brain by targeting inflammation
The picture is used for representation purpose only. Photo: AP
An Early study from England showed that high dosage of 'Simvastin', the drug that lowers cholestrol that goes by the brand name 'Zocor', can slow brain shrinkage in patients suffering from multiple sclerosis(MS).
The study analyzed the effects of Zocor and placebos on patients with the secondary progress(chronic) stage of MS. It was found that the brain shrinkage reduced by 43% in those who took Zocor as compared to the patients taking placebos.
"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 drug Zocor is a member of a class of drugs called statins, which are commonly given to Patients with high levels of cholestrol, although it was found to reduce brain shrinkage in MS patients, Palace speculated that it might protect the brain by targeting inflammation.
However the the question of whether the reduction in brain shrinkage was due to the drug or some other factor was raised by Dr. Emmanuelle Waubant, a professor of clinical neurology and pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco.
She had conducted her own research using another drug 'Lipitor' used for lowering cholestrol and found a reduction in brain lesions development, something that the other researchers did not find.
In addition to her surprising discovery, there was no reduction in the shrinkage of the brain after using the drug for a year, but there was a reduction among the patients in this current study, yet another surprising discovery by her.
"This was a small study," she said. "Before we can be certain there is a positive effect of this medication on the progression of MS, we need to reproduce that in other studies, because sometimes findings are a fluke."
"It's one thing if you slow down progression of brain atrophy, but if it doesn't translate into improvement in clinical outcomes for patients, it may not be useful," she said. "If it's real, that would be great."
For the secong Phase of the new study, Dr. Jeremy Chataway, lead a team and assigned 140 MS patients to receive either a palcebo or 8- milligrams of Zocor a day.
The MRIs taken at the start of the study and MRIs taken two years later were then compared and it was found that taking Zocot showed a 0.3% overall reduction in brain shrinkage rate a year.
"Normally brain shrinkage occurs in progressive MS at about 0.6 percent per year, and high-dose Zocor reduced that over two years by about 43 percent," Chataway said.
Chataway said to be of real use to patients, Zocor has to have an effect , not just on brain shrinkage but also on the progression of disability, Chataway said. "We need to move on to phase 3 trials to show it has a clear effect on disability," he said.
"This may be the first step toward treatment in secondary progressive MS for which there is no treatment. It's the first step, but a very exciting step," Chataway said. "But I don't want everyone to go out there and start Zocor."
Slowing brain shrinkage will perhaps also slow the progression of disability, said Dr. Karen Blitz, director of the North Shore-LIJ Multiple Sclerosis Center, in East Meadow, N.Y. "That's key," she said. "That's what we need to find out."
"Patients of mine who have high cholesterol should probably consider taking Zocor now because there could be an added benefit," she said.
( Source : dc/agencies )
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