Statins may not interfere with IFN-b efficacy after all

Results from a clinical trial published last year suggested that people with MS who are on IFN-b therapy may increase their risk of relapse or MRI lesions if they also take statin drugs. This study was small, however, with only 26 subjects total, so another group of scientists decided to see whether the same effect could be replicated in another data set. They analyzed relapse and MRI outcome data from the SENTINEL trial, a study that compared Tysabri plus IFN-b to IFN-b alone. The scientists found that of the 582 subjects in the "IFN-b alone" arm, 40 had taken statins during the trial while the others had not. Comparison of the relapse and MRI data from the statins and no-statins subjects revealed no significant difference between the two groups. Lab experiments were also conducted to see if the presence of statins affected IFN-related gene expression in cells; no effect was seen.

One difference between this study and the one published last year that may account for the discrepancy in the findings is that in this study, people in the statins group were on different statin drugs at doses that were usually 20 mg or less per day, whereas in the previous study, subjects were given atorvastatin at 40 or 80 mg. The authors conclude that at usual therapeutic doses, statins don't appear to interfere with the disease-modifying effects of IFN-b.