A team led by scientists at UCSF has used a novel screening tool to identify eight drugs that may stimulate nervous system repair in multiple sclerosis, or MS. Since all of the compounds, including antihistamine, have been previously approved by the FDA, clinical trials are already underway. Dr. Ari Green, who co-authored the study, is leading the Phase 2 trial called ReBUILD.

"Its using one of these medications and testing in people both how well is the medication tolerated, are their side effects that are difficult for people? How long do we need to use these therapies? Is there benefit to using it for a longer period or shorter period and then trying to figure out how do we best measure this?"

In the lab, these eight drugs stimulated remyelination of nerve cells. Myelin is often likened to the plastic sheath around electrical wires. In MS, when myelin deteriorates, nerve cells slow up and die.

"So, what we would like to do is recover or restore that myelin."