Combining osteoporosis drugs produce no add...( new approaches to the treatment of oste...),Health

Black said that although bisphosphonates are currently used effectively by millions of women, physicians and patients alike would welcome alternatives, particularly for women with severe disease. Estrogen, once used as a first choice treatment for osteoporosis, has been shown to increase risk of breast cancer and, in women with heart disease, to increase the risk of stroke.

The cooperative, multi-site trial by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Disorders, part of the National Institutes of Health, involved women in Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Maine and New York.

Healthy bones exhibit a continual cycle of growth and resorption into the body. Parathyroid acts to both promote bone growth and accelerate its resorption and is initially more active in promoting bone growth, the researchers said. Thus they hypothesized that, as compared with parathyroid hormone therapy alone, the combination of parathyroid hormone with alendronate would induce larger increases in bone mineral density, preserve the increase in bone formation and minimize any increase in bone resorption. The study, however, found no evidence to support the hypothesis.

Black said parathyroid hormone deserves greater study, although its use may be limited by two factors: its current cost is about $7-8000 per year, and it is currently available only as an injectable medication. While this study suggested that the simultaneous combination of these two drugs is not more beneficial than either alone, the serial combination, particularly the use of bisphosphonates following PTH, has not been studied, Black said.

Osteoporosis is a condition resulting from bones that have lost calcium and thickness. Because of this thinning of the bones, a person with osteoporosis is at increased risk for fracture. It is responsible for 1.5 million fractures annually, according to the
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Contact: Eve Harris
eharris@pubaff.ucsf.edu
415-885-7277
University of California - San Francisco
20-Sep-2003