The drug that may save babies from stillbirth

'Pravastatin just might be the drug we have all been looking for that will ultimately save mothers and babies'. Photo / iStock.

A statin used to lower cholesterol could also save pregnant women from a potentially fatal high blood pressure condition. Experts hope the ground-breaking discovery will pave the way for a new treatment for pre-eclampsia, which is linked to one in 20 stillbirths.

The drug, Pravastatin, has been shown to reduce the effects of compounds that drive pre-eclampsia, which affects about five per cent of pregnant women.

The world's first major trial into its use in women with the condition has been completed at centres across the UK. Meanwhile, new results from a small study in Australia show big improvements in patients prescribed the drug.

In three out of the four women treated with Pravastatin, symptoms of pre-eclampsia resolved completely and no new ones developed. All four women gave birth to a healthy baby.

Professor Asif Ahmed of Aston University, who led the UK trial, said: "Although we don't know the full results, I believe there were no ill effects among the 64 women involved. What we have discovered here is a way of putting the brakes on pre-eclampsia."

Professor Stephen Tong, head of the Translational Obstetrics Group at Melbourne University and one of the team who carried out the Australian study, said: "Pre-eclampsia is a devastating disease and it is sad that in 2015 we still have no treatment other than urgent delivery of the baby.

"Pravastatin just might be the drug we have all been looking for that will ultimately save mothers and babies."

As well as laboratory testing and the treatment of the four women with the statin, the Melbourne study measured levels of compounds in the mother and placenta that are thought to be involved in the development of pre-eclampsia.

The trials follow pioneering British research by Prof Ahmed that first suggested statins could be effective.

The main symptoms of pre-eclampsia are high blood pressure and high levels of protein in the urine, known as proteinuria. There are no treatments other than monitoring and, if deemed necessary, induced labour.

Women who have had pre-eclampsia are twice as likely to develop other cardiovascular diseases later in life, and babies are at increased risk of heart disease. It is thought to be caused by the placenta not developing properly due to a problem with the blood vessels that supply it.

Research by Prof Ahmed suggested that pre-eclampsia was the result of an imbalance between proteins which make blood vessels and those that block them.

One of the actions of statins, in addition to their cholesterol-lowering effects, is that they can prevent the growth of new blood vessels.

Some statins have been shown to induce birth defects but the structure of Pravastatin means it is much less likely to cross the placenta into the foetus.

As a result of Prof Ahmed's work, the world's first randomised controlled clinical trial was launched at 15 centres across England after doctors were given legal and ethical approval to give statins to pregnant women with the condition.

Results of the trial are now being analysed.

"When we started linking statins and pre-eclampsia there were concerns it might be dangerous," says Prof Ahmed. "But everything points to statins being an effective treatment.

"We have looked at data from several hundred women worldwide who have taken Pravastatin during the first three months of a pregnancy that they were unaware of, and there have been no reports of any defects."

- Daily Mail