Alpha-Lipoic Acid Shows Early Promise in Slowing Progressive MS in World-First Trial
An existing antioxidant and anti-inflammatory medicine, alpha-lipoic acid (ALA), has shown early promise in slowing the progression of multiple sclerosis (MS) in a world-first trial known as Octopus. The MS Society, which funds the trial, announced that ALA has advanced to the second stage of the study after demonstrating positive initial results. In contrast, another drug, the diabetes medicine metformin, was removed from the trial after failing to show beneficial findings. The Octopus trial is a multi-arm multi-stage (MAMs) trial designed to efficiently evaluate potential treatments for progressive MS. More than 850 individuals have been recruited across hospitals in the UK and Australia, with researchers from the Queen Square MS Centre and University College London (UCL) leading the effort. They believe high-dose ALA could potentially become the first neuroprotective treatment for MS.
