Study shows Zocor ineffective on cognitive function

ROTTERDAM, The Netherlands According to a new study, the cholesterol medication simvastatin, the generic of Merck’s Zocor did not help children to overcome a common, genetically linked learning disability, according to published reports.

Studies involving mice with a condition called neurofibromatosis 1, which causes tumors involving nerve tissue resulting in problems with memory, motor skills and general cognitive disabilities, had suggested that simvastatin helped correct the learning and attention deficits accompanying the disorder by altering brain activity.

But investigators led by Lianne Krab of Erasmus MC University Medical Center, Sophia Children’s Hospital, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, said a test on 62 children with the inherited condition found the drug did not help.

“Simvastatin did not improve cognitive function in children” with the disorder and should not be suggested for that use, concluded the report.