M.S. Help from an Over-the-Counter Drug?

Could an over-the-counter drug, used to treat sniffles, help ease M.S. symptoms and maybe even repair myelin?  Maybe…someday.

The drug is clemastine fumarate, a  common antihistamine used to treat cold and allergy symptoms.  In a small, preliminary study involving M.S. and optic neuropathy, (damage to the nerve that sends info from the eye to the brain), participants who took clemastine fumarate showed what the study terms a “modest” improvement in their vision.

“This study is promising because it is the first time a drug has been shown to possibly reverse the damage done by MS,” says the author of the study, Ari Green, MD of the Multiple Sclerosis Center at the University of California, San Francisco. “(The) findings are preliminary, but this study provides a framework for future MS repair studies.”

Don’t expect anything to come of this soon but, as Dr. Green indicates, it may prove to be one more step toward reversing M.S. damage.