Medications used to treat high cholesterol such as Lipitor could potentially slow the course of multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a new study presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology.

The study involved 81 patients with early-stage MS who were chosen at random to be treated with Lipitor–a popular medication that belongs to a group of drugs called statins–and followed for a year. Results showed that more than half of the patients experienced no new brain lesions, whereas 30 percent of patients recieving placebo experienced experienced the same.

MS experts are calling for a larger study to  address the possible benefits of statin medications to treat patients with MS.

For more information on this study, please visit http://www.drugwatch.com/news/2010/04/16/lipitor-and-other-cholesterol-drugs-may-help-treat-multiple-sclerosis/.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 21st, 2010 at 10:14 am and is filed under All Articles, Studies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.