Cholesterol drugs promising for multiple sclerosis

Cholesterol-lowering drugs, widely used to reduce the risk of heart attack, could also be effective in treating multiple sclerosis, according to new research published on Friday.

Already hailed for revolutionizing the management of heart disease, the drugs, which will soon be available over the counter in Britain, are also being studied in the fight against Alzheimer's disease and osteoporosis.

Now researchers from the Medical University of South Carolina have produced the first clinical evidence that statins can help in multiple sclerosis. The study is published in The Lancet medical journal.

A group of 30 patients with MS were given 80 mg a day of Merck & Co Inc's Zocor, or simvastatin, and had a 44-percent reduction in brain lesions after three months of treatment, the study showed.

Brain lesions are markers of the progression and severity of MS, a debilitating disease in which nerve cells lose their insulating sheath, leading to muscle weakness, fatigue, bladder problems and impaired vision.

Since existing MS treatments, such as interferon, are expensive, must be injected and are only partially effective, swapping to statin pills-already taken by millions of people every day-would offer clear advantages.

But Professor Chris Polman, an MS expert at the VU Medical Center in Amsterdam, said more research is needed, including a large placebo-controlled clinical trial. The first of these trials is about to commence and could take around two years.

"It's a very good start but it's not conclusive," Polman said in a telephone interview, adding it was possible some brain lesions may have disappeared spontaneously, given the relapsing-remitting nature of the disease.

DRUG SHARES FALL

The prospect of a new, simple treatment unnerved investors in manufacturers of existing MS drugs, and shares in Switzerland's Serono SA and Germany's Schering AG fell around one percent.

"The trial results raise the possibility that potentially more efficient and cheaper treatment options could enter the market within less than five years," said Denise Anderson of Swiss brokerage Kepler Equities.

Sam Williams of Lehman Brothers, however, said statins could be positioned to be used alongside injectable MS drugs.

Serono, Schering and Biogen Idec market beta interferon injections, while Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd sells a rival product called Copaxone.

The positive findings from Dr. Timothy Vollmer and colleagues in South Carolina follow earlier research showing statins can reverse paralysis caused by a similar condition to MS in mice.

Statins were first developed for their ability to block an enzyme involved in the liver's production of cholesterol. But scientists have since found they also counter inflammation that may be central to several chronic degenerative diseases.