Myelin repair trial completes recruitment – results expected late 2025
The 70th person with MS has joined our phase 2 myelin repair trial in Cambridge. The trial team have now reached their recruitment goal and we should have results next year.
To stop MS for everyone, we need to find treatments that repair myelin, the protective coating around nerve fibres which is damaged in MS.
Research in the lab has shown a combination of two drugs, both already used in other conditions, boosted myelin repair in rats. Now the CCMR2 trial is testing whether the same is true in the brains of people with relapsing MS.
And with recruitment complete, we’re closer to finding out the answer.
What happens now?
Everyone takes part in the trial for six months. So the team hope to be able to analyse and share the results next year.
This is a phase 2 trial. So its focus is on whether we see an effect of the drugs inside the brain, using tools like MRI. If the results are positive, we’ll need a larger trial to tell us whether we can see the same effect on disability.
Why is the trial in relapsing MS?
We want to have the best chance of seeing a positive result in a small group of people in a relatively short timeframe. Studying people with relapsing MS gives us that chance. That’s because they’re more likely to have lots of nerve cells with damaged myelin that are healthy enough to allow stem cells to repair the damage.
If we find these drugs can improve myelin repair, a next step is to understand whether they could be effective for people with progressive MS as well.
Meanwhile, our Octopus trial is recruiting people with primary and secondary progressive MS.
Why is this so important?
Emma Phipps lives in Cambridgeshire with her two young children and was diagnosed with relapsing MS when she was 24 years old. She took part in the trial this year. She says: “This trial is huge for anyone with MS and their family members, as progressing is the part we dread. I don’t want to progress. I don’t know if I was on the placebo, I wasn’t going in thinking ‘this will fix me’ but I would do anything to help. I am so so hopeful for this trial and desperate for it to find something that works.”
Neurologist Dr Nick Cunniffe, who is leading the trial, says: “It’s been a long journey to get to this point and I’m delighted the trial has now fully recruited. We are really excited about the results coming next year. This would not have been possible without the support of the MS Society, but of course the biggest thanks has to go to the 70 people who have taken part in this trial.”
Dr Clare Walton, our Head of Research, says: “Completing recruitment is a significant milestone for MS research studies, and we’re incredibly grateful to every one of the participants who signed up. We desperately need treatments that repair myelin – the protective layer that surrounds our nerve fibres, which is damaged in MS. This is a vital step towards finding ways to slow or stop disability progression in everybody with MS and could revolutionise the way MS is treated."
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