Hi All ,
people living near Massachusetts, has opportunity to help in the development of the Simvastatin to Treat Generalized Vitiligo,the drug is in the Phase II trial now. They are recruiting patients ,
below is the link to the site and it has all the details of the trials and contact information , you can drop a email or call them they look very responsive.
All the best
Clinical Trial of Simvastatin to Treat Generalized Vitiligo
This study is currently recruiting participants.
Verified January 2012 by University of Massachusetts, Worcester
Replies
I hope is not going to be another cream the only way to cure it its from the inside out.
more on this drug trial for Vitiligo...
URL :
http://www.umassmed.edu/Content.aspx?id=126106
Testing the Safety and Efficacy of Simvastin as a New Treatment for Vitiligo
Principal Investigator: John E. Harris, MD, PhD
Our goal is to initiate a phase II, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial to test simvastatin, an FDA-approved medication for hypercholesterolemia, as a repurposed treatment for vitiligo. Vitiligo is a devastating, disfiguring autoimmune disease of the skin, marked clinically by depigmentation and mediated by CD8+ T cell destruction of melanocytes. No systemic treatments are available, and current treatments have limited efficacy. Preliminary data in a mouse model of vitiligo reveal: 1) the IFN-g signaling pathway is critical for disease, 2) simvastatin inhibits the activation of STAT-1, a key signaling mediator in this pathway, and 3) simvastatin treatment inhibits depigmentation. We hypothesize that simvastatin inhibits STAT-1 activation in humans in vivo, and that treatment of vitiligo patients with high-dose simvastatin will result in significant repigmentation of affected skin. We will recruit 100 patients for the study, who will be randomized to treatment with simvastatin or placebo for 6 months. Aim 1 will focus on the safety and efficacy of treatment. Patients will be seen regularly to assess treatment response and closely monitored for adverse effects. Aim 2 will focus on the cellular and molecular effects of simvastatin treatment on the small population of melanocyte-specific, autoreactive CD8+ T cells in the blood of subjects, identified using HLA tetramers. Data from this study will be used to secure external funding to perform a larger, multicenter trial to determine the optimal dose, treatment course, and efficacy when compared to other treatment modalities. In addition, we will define the mechanism of the simvastatin treatment response in patients with vitiligo
and how is this supposed to work ? What is the concept or theory behind it ? Why did they pick that drug ?
lets hope by year end we all have the good news
All the best
Raj
Good news !!