Statins slow MS

ANOTHER string to their bow. As well as lowering cholesterol and cutting stroke risk, statins may slow the progression of advanced multiple sclerosis. Those taking a daily dose of the drug for two years had 43 per cent less brain shrinkage – a marker of disease progression – compared with those taking a placebo. Statin recipients also improved on two scales of disability (The Lancet, DOI: 10.1016/S01406736(13)62242-4). One runs from zero to 10, with zero being healthy. The average score for statin recipients was 5.93, compared with 6.35 for those on the placebo. “It doesn’t sound much, but going from 6 to 6.5 can mean moving from reliance on one walking  stick to two, while 7.0 can mean confinement to wheelchair,” says study leader Jeremy Chataway  of University College London. “There are no treatments to stop the condition worsening in people with progressive MS,” says Susan Kohlhaas of the UK MS Society, “so this is very exciting".