OSTEOPOROSIS Promising New Drugs

OSTEOPOROSIS DRUGS Osteoporosis is estimated to cause 1.3 million bone fractures a year in people over 45 years of age. Osteoporosis is a major health problem in women and is estimated to affect 20 million people, especially elderly and postmenopausal women. The pipeline of new drugs is an exciting development in the clinical treatment of osteoporosis. Drugs and types of drugs available for the treatment of osteoporosis are : calcitonin, bisphosphonates, hormone replacement therapy, calcium/Vitamin D, Fosamax and Raloxifene. The new drug, alendronate sodium or Fosamax (brand name), has caused quite a bit of excitement because it is the first drug to reverse the bone loss of osteoporosis in post-menopausal women.

Medline Cites

<1> Prestwood KM. Osteoporosis: Up-to-Date Strategies for the prevention and Treatment. Geriatrics. 52(4):92-94,97-98, 1997 April. <2> Ringe JD. Active Vitamin D Metabolites in Glucocorticoid-Induced Osteoporosis.[Review]. Calcified Tissue International. 60(1):124-127, 1997 Jan. <3> Nakamura T. The Importance of Genetic and Nutritional Factors in Responses to Vitamin D and its Analogs in Osteoporotic Patients [Review]. Calcified Tissue International. 60(1):119-123, 1997 Jan. <4> Francis RM. Is there a Differential Response to Alfacalcidol and Vitamin D in the Treatment of Osteoporosis?.[Review]. Calcified Tissue International. 60(1):111-114, 1997 Jan. <5> Selby P. Alendronate Treatment for Osteoporosis: A Review of the Clinical Evidence. [Review]. Osteoporosis International. 6(6):419-426, 1996. <6> Silverman SL. Calcitonin. [Review]. American Journal of Medical Sciences. 313(1):13-16, 1997 Jan. <7> Isenbarger DW. Chapin BL. Osteoporosis:Current Pharmacologic Options for Prevention and Treatment [Review] Postgraduate Medicine. 101(1):129-132, 136-137,141-142, 1997 Jan. <8> Selby PL. Alendronate--A New Bisphosphonate. [Review]. Osteoporosis International. 6 Suppl 2:21-23, 1996. <9> Kanis JA. McCloskey EV. Beneton MN. Clodronate and Osteoporosis. [Review]. Maturitas. 23 Suppl:S81-86, 1996 May. <10> Jewelwicz R New Develoments in Topical Estrogen Therapy. [Review]. Fertility &Sterility, 67(1):1-12, 1997 Jan. <11> Grese TA. Cho S. Finley DR. Godfrey AG. Jones CD. Lugar CW. Martin MJ. Matsumoto K. Pennington LD. et.al> Structure Activity Relationships of Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulators--Modifications to the 2-Arylbenzothiopene Core of Raloifene. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. 40(2):146-167, 1997 Jan 17 <12> Shiau SP. Glasebrook A. Hardikar SD. Yang NN. Hershberger CL. Activation of the Human Estrogen Receptor by Estrogenic and Antiestrogenic Compounds in Saccharomyces Cerevisiae-A Positive Selection System. Gene. 179(2):205-210, 1996 Nov. <13> Sato M. Bryant HU. Iversen P. Helterbrand J. Smietana F. Bemis K. Higgs R. Turner CH. Owan I. Takano Y. Burr DB. Advantages of Raloxifene Over Alendronate or Estrogen On Non Reproductive and Reproductive Tissues in the Long-Term Dosing of Ovariectomized Rats. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. 279(1):298-305, 1996 Oct. <14>Yang NN. Venugopalan M. Hardikar S. Glasebrook A. Identification of an Estrogen Response Element Activated by Metabolites of 17-Beta-Estradiol and Raloxifene. Science, 273(5279):1222-1225, 1996 Aug. <15>Frolik CA. Bryant HU. Black EC. Magee DE. Chandrasekhar S. Time Dependent Changes in Biochemical Bone Markers and Serum Cholesterol in Ovariectomized Rats-Effects of Raloxifene HCL,Tamoxifen,Estrogen and Alendronate. Bone. 18(6):621-627, 1996 Jun.