'Healthy Bones' Shot Could Cut Women's Fracture Risk

Once-a-year injection might replace pills, study suggests.

By Amanda Gardner
HealthDay Reporter
Wednesday, May 2, 2007; 12:00 AM

Copyright © 2007 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.

WEDNESDAY, May 2 (HealthDay News) -- Annual injections of a common osteoporosis drug greatly reduced older women's risk for fractures, researchers report.

The findings, published in the May 3 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, could open the door to U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of once-a-year zoledronic acid.

"We've been waiting for this for a long time. This is really exciting stuff," said Paul Brandt, an assistant professor of neuroscience and experimental therapeutics at Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine in Houston.

"Here we've got something we can give to patients when they're in the clinic with a 15-minute IV, and it lasts for a whole year," said Brandt, who was not involved in the study. "The FDA hasn't approved it for a single-year injection, but I hope it will. It sure is going to be a good kick in the right direction."

"This is a very attractive alternative for a significant number of people who cannot or will not take traditional antiresorbtive medication," said Dr. Steven R. Goldstein, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at New York University School of Medicine and author of The Estrogen Alternative and Could It Be Menopause.... "But this is not for everybody. This study was in older people, so in a select group of patients this would be a very nice alternative but it's not going to be a sea change, nor should younger people be running towards this methodology."

The new study was funded by the drug's maker, Novartis Pharma. One outside expert agreed the new drug formulation could change the way people care for their bones.

Many women already take bone-preserving pills called oral bisphosphonates, but they're not for everyone, explained Dr. Nanette Santoro, director of the division of reproductive endocrinology in the department of obstetrics and gynecology and women's health at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City.

"For now, women who do not tolerate oral bisphosphonates well but who are good candidates will be able to take the medication in a relatively convenient form," Santoro said. "For the future, this may be a harbinger of how this class of medication will be given years from now."