Once-a-year jab vs. osteoporosis

Last updated: Monday, September 18, 2006 Print

A once-a-year injection of a drug designed to treat osteoporosis may eventually eliminate the need for taking a pill daily or monthly to combat the bone-thinnning disease.

The Associated Press reports that Reclast, made by the pharmaceutical firm Novartis, appears to prevent spine and hip fractures, according to a presentation given at the annual meeting of the American Society of Bone and Mineral Research in Philadelphia.

Novartis paid for the international research of 7 736 post-menopausal women with osteoporosis into the effects of the drug, known chemically as zoledronic acid. The results showed that spine fractures were reduced by 70% and hip fractures by 40%, the wire service reported.

"This is very good news," the A.P. quotes Dr Ethel Siris, president of the National Osteoporosis Foundation and director of the Osteoporosis Center at Columbia University, as saying. "Because it can be given once a year, it's going to be terrific for women who like that option," she added. Siris has consulted for Novartis and other drug companies, the wire service reported. -(HealthDayNews, September 2006)