Could There Already Be A Treatment For MS?

Depression and heart disease drugs will be tested on more than 400 people to find treatments for Multiple Sclerosis (MS).

17:37 01 April 2015

Scientists are set to conduct tests on 400 people to determine if existing depression and heart disease drugs can be used to treat Multiple Sclerosis. Currently, there are no available treatments for the secondary stage of the debilitating disease. 

 

The MS-Smart trial test, which will be conducted at the University College London, aims to repurpose three drugs that are currently used to treat other conditions; amiloride (heart disease), Fluoxetine (depression), and Riluzole (motor neurone disease). Researchers will test these medicines to see if they could slow down the progress of MS. 

 

Dr Jeremy Chataway, a consultant neurologist and lead researcher on the trial based at UCL, said there was "huge unmet need".

 

"It may be the case that we have already invented the drugs we need to treat MS.

 

"In the same way that aspirin was developed as a painkiller and is now used to treat stroke patients, we may well have invented the drugs that we need, we just don't know that they work in different situations than what they were invented for.

 

"One of the advantages is they are very cheap, and we know a great deal about them as they have been tested on millions of people around the world in their original indication.

 

"So it's much more of a running start when we use drugs that we aim to repurpose."

 

Prof Siddharthan Chandran, a clinical neurologist at the University of Edinburgh, said: "This is a landmark study that seeks to not only test three potential treatments, but also showcase a new approach to clinical trials for progressive neurological conditions."