Scientists say they are on the brink of creating a breakthrough treatment for multiple sclerosis which could repair nerve damage caused by the condition.

MS causes the body to attack myelin, the protective membrane around nerve cells, causing debilitating symptoms such as fatigue, pain, spasms and problems with walking.

But medics have found a combination of the diabetes drug metformin and clemastine, an antihistamine, can help repair myelin. Researchers believe repairing the membrane can also prevent further degeneration of damaged nerves.

Studies on animals had found metformin enhanced the effect of clemastine, but until now the two drugs have not been tested together in people. Dr Nick Cunniffe, academic neurologist at Cambridge University, who led the trial, said: 'We still need to research the long-term benefits and side-effects before people with MS consider taking these drugs.

'But my instinct is that we are on the brink of a new class of treatments to stop MS progression, and within the next decade we could see the first licensed treatment that repairs myelin and improves the lives of people living with MS.' More than 150,000 people in the UK live with multiple sclerosis.

Dr Emma Gray, director of research at the MS Society, which funded the trial, said: 'These results could represent a turning point. This research gives us real hope that myelin repair drugs will be part of the armoury of MS treatments in the future.'

Some 70 people with relapsing MS took part in the six-month Cambridge Centre for Myelin Repair trial Two, with half given the drug combination and the other half given a placebo. Experts then measured how quickly signals travelled between the eyes and the brain.

The results suggested that, while the speed of signals slowed down in the placebo group over the course of six months, they remained constant in the drug group, suggesting a degree of boost to nerve function.

The research is expected to be published in a peer-reviewed journal.