Researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine found that a pair of drugs currently being used to treat skin infections could one day be useful to patients with multiple sclerosis, or MS.
This idea of finding new uses for drugs already on the market is a big deal. These drugs have already been tested for safety for certain uses and can sometimes be expedited for human clinical trials.
This new discovery from Case researcher Paul Tesar is part of this trend. Tesar and colleagues found that two drugs used topically to treat athlete’s foot and eczema were effective in reversing damage caused by the brain disease multiple sclerosis.
This work was done in mice, and in human brain stem cells studied in a petri dish. It has not yet been tested in humans.
Still researchers are excited they’ve found a way to spark brain cells to regenerate new nerve coatings called myelin, which is what gets destroyed in people with MS. "We’re currently working very intensely on how we might modify the dosing, the delivery, or even modifying or tweaking the structure of the drug itself that would allow us to safely and effectively deliver these to patients systemically. And I think if all of that went well, we could be in clinical testing in the next year or so," said Tesar.
Tesar’s findingsare published this week in the scientific journal Nature.