Just released research findings from the University of California San Francisco found that nerve damage in people suffering from multiple sclerosis can be repaired by an over the counter antihistamine. MS damages nerves by removing a protective sheath around nerves which typically can’t be fixed, this new research may provide new methods to help those nerves. The antihistamine isn’t 100% effective and won’t cure MS but it does help those dealing with the disease. The more this treatment is understood the more options we have to help those with MS.

Now, researchers from the University of California San Francisco have identified an over-the-counter antihistamine called clemastine that can reverse damage to the myelin sheath and, what’s more, they’ve identified a biomarker that can measure the drug’s effectiveness.

It all hinges on something called the “myelin water fraction” or MWF. Water that is trapped between the layers of myelin that wrap around nerves in the brain can’t move as freely as water that floats between brain cells. The MWF measures the ratio of myelin water to the brain tissue’s total water content and indicates myelin integrity.

The researchers examined 50 patients with MS enrolled in the ReBUILD trial, who were divided into two groups: the first received clemastine for the first three months of the study, and the second received it only in months three to five and were given a placebo to start. Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), they measured the MWF in the patients’ corpus callosum, the thick bundle of nerve fibers connecting the brain’s left and right sides that is dense with myelin.

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