Early results from the CCMR2 trial were announced recently. They suggest a combination of two existing drugs may be able to boost myelin repair in relapsing MS.
Myelin is the protective sheath around our nerves that gets damaged in MS. Our bodies have an amazing natural ability to repair myelin. But this stops working properly in MS.
CCMR2 was a phase 2 trial run by researchers at the Cambridge Centre for Myelin Repair. These trials are designed to give us an idea of what might be happening in the brain, before bigger and longer studies take place.
70 people with relapsing MS took part over six months. One group took a combination of two existing drugs: metformin and clemastine. The other took placebo tablets. Everyone continued to take their normal disease modifying therapy.
The main test the researchers used to look at the effect of the drugs was called a visual evoked potential. This measures how quickly messages travel between the eyes and the brain. In the group taking the drugs, the signals stayed the same speed over the six months. In the placebo group, the signals slowed down. The difference between the groups was small, but significant.
The results suggest the drugs could be boosting myelin repair in the brain in relapsing MS. It’s the third trial of potential myelin repair treatments to show this. Together, these results give real hope that myelin repair could be part of how MS is treated in the future.
Dr Nick Cunliffe, who led the trial, said, “I’m increasingly sure that remyelination is part of the solution to stopping progressive disability in MS. We still need to research the long-term benefits and side effects before people with MS consider taking these drugs. But my instinct is that we’re on the brink of a new class of treatments to stop MS progression, and within the next decade we could see the first licensed treatment that repairs myelin and improves the lives of people living with MS.”
You can read more information about the trial and the results on the MS Society website.
Source: MS Society
