The clinical trials taking us closer to stopping MS

Can we prevent immune attacks at every stage of MS?

In MS, immune cells attack the protective myelin coating around our nerves. We’ve made incredible progress in our ability to stop the immune system attacking myelin. There are now more than a dozen disease modifying therapies (DMTs) available for relapsing MS that help do this. And we’re starting to make headway in progressive MS as well.

Ocrelizumab is now available for people with early progressive MS. And in 2020, siponimod was approved for use on the NHS as the first oral treatment for people with active secondary progressive MS.

But to make sure everyone with MS has access to effective treatments, we need to know whether targeting the immune system can still be effective at more advanced stages of MS.

ChariotMS

Traditionally, walking ability has been the main measurement of whether a drug is effective. So, many people who use wheelchairs have been unable to take part in MS trials. But now a trial called Chariot MS is exploring whether an existing MS treatment (Cladribine) is able to slow down the worsening of hand and arm function for people with advanced progressive MS.

ChariotMS is the first trial specifically for people with advanced MS. And the first with no upper age limit.  The trial reached its recruitment goal in January 2025 and we should have the results in a couple of years. 

Promising results from myelin repair studies

Our bodies have an amazing natural ability to repair myelin. But this repair becomes less effective over time and doesn’t work as well as it should in MS. Researchers are exploring ways to kick-start this natural process again.

In September 2020 results from our bexarotene clinical trial showed myelin repair is possible in humans. Unfortunately, participants in the trial experienced some serious side effects. The researchers are exploring ways to take bexarotene forward in a smaller dose or in combination with another drug. 

CCMR2

And now a trial called CCMR2 is building on this work. Promising results from laboratory studies showed metformin could repair myelin in rats. Our trial at the MS Society Cambridge Centre for Myelin Repair, is testing whether metformin in combination with clemastine (an antihistamine) can repair myelin in people with relapsing MS.

CCMR2 completed recruitment last year and we hope to hear the results in autumn 2025. 

Testing treatments to protect nerves from damage

As well as playing a vital role in how nerves work, myelin also protects them from damage. Without their protective myelin, nerve cells are vulnerable. So we need to make sure our nerves are happy, healthy and protected from damage.

MS-STAT2

Previous research has suggested that simvastatin, a drug initially developed to lower cholesterol, was also able to protect nerves in MS.  We co-funded MS-STAT2, the final definitive trial to test whether simvastatin could slow disability progression in secondary progressive MS by protecting nerves from damage.

MS-STAT2 completed recruitment in late 2021, becoming the largest ever academic-led trial for progressive MS. Very disappointingly, top line results announced in 2024 showed simvastatin did not have an effect on disability progression. 

Read about the MS-STAT2 results

Speeding up clinical trials with Octopus

With every step of our plan to stop MS underway, we believe treatments that slow or stop disability progression for everyone with MS are now a very real prospect.

And all these trials have helped pave the way for our game-changing multi-arm, multi-stage trial, Octopus. Octopus’ novel design will enable us to test multiple drugs at once, and add in new ones as soon as they’re discovered. So we can test potential treatments up to three times faster. 

Octopus is recruiting people with primary and secondary progressive MS around the UK. 

Read more about Octopus

This blog was updated in March 2025 to reflect the latest information about the trials.