Re: Fosamax - Bone Drug's Effect Tracked Over Decade

[Guest guest]

This is a great summary about the latest research on the

osteoporosis medication " Fosamax " that we CRONies use who

are suffering from osteo and broken bones.

Do you by chance have the URL for the article?

A Google search on the key words:

Fosamax - Bone Drug Effect Tracked Over Decade

yielded no results. Thanks!

-- Warren

=====================

On 18 Mar 2004, Francesca wrote:

>

> The widely used osteoporosis drug Fosamax keeps strengthening bones

> for at least a decade, a study found, easing fears that it might

> eventually boomerang and start making hips and spines brittle

> and prone to break.

>

> The study is the longest test yet of Fosamax, which was approved

> in 1995. It has gained quickly in popularity as an alternative to

> hormone supplements, which have been linked in recent years to

> heart disease and cancer.

>

> The findings by an international team were published today in the New

> England Journal of Medicine. The researchers, led by Dr. Henry Bone of

> St. Medical Center in Detroit focused on 247 middle-age and

> elderly women with postmenopausal osteoporosis.

>

> The number of fractures in the final five years was too small to be

> considered statistical proof, but the raw numbers were encouraging.

> Among women who took 10 milligrams of Fosamax daily, 5 percent

> suffered back fractures. Among those who stopped taking the drug

> during the last five years of testing, 6.6 percent had such breaks.

>

> The blockbuster drug, which had $2.7 billion in world sales last year,

> works by readjusting the continuous process of bone renewal. The

> research was backed by the maker of Fosamax, Merck & Co.

[Guest guest]

No I don't have the URL. But I bet you can get it from the New England Journal of Medicine website or Merck's website as noted in the article:

" The findings by an international team were published today in the New

England Journal of Medicine.....research was backed by the maker of Fosamax, Merck & Co. "

> Do you by chance have the URL for the article?

> A Google search on the key words:

>

> Fosamax - Bone Drug Effect Tracked Over Decade

>

> yielded no results. Thanks!

>

> -- Warren

[Guest guest]

Hi All,

Here the pdf-available paper's abstract is:

Cheers, Al Pater.

New Engl J Med 350:1189-1199 March 18, 2004 Number 12

Ten Years' Experience with Alendronate for Osteoporosis in

Postmenopausal Women

H. G. Bone and Others

ABSTRACT

Background Antiresorptive agents are widely used to treat

osteoporosis. We report the results of a multinational randomized,

double-blind study, in which postmenopausal women with osteoporosis

were treated with alendronate for up to 10 years.

Methods The initial three-year phase of the study compared three

daily doses of alendronate with placebo. Women in the original

placebo group received alendronate in years 4 and 5 and then were

discharged. Women in the original active-treatment groups continued

to receive alendronate during the initial extension (years 4 and 5).

In two further extensions (years 6 and 7, and 8 through 10), women

who had received 5 mg or 10 mg of alendronate daily continued on the

same treatment. Women in the discontinuation group received 20 mg of

alendronate daily for two years and 5 mg daily in years 3, 4, and 5,

followed by five years of placebo. Randomized group assignments and

blinding were maintained throughout the 10 years. We report results

for the 247 women who participated in all four phases of the study.

Results Treatment with 10 mg of alendronate daily for 10 years

produced mean increases in bone mineral density of 13.7 percent at

the lumbar spine (95 percent confidence interval, 12.0 to 15.5

percent), 10.3 percent at the trochanter (95 percent confidence

interval, 8.1 to 12.4 percent), 5.4 percent at the femoral neck (95

percent confidence interval, 3.5 to 7.4 percent), and 6.7 percent at

the total proximal femur (95 percent confidence interval, 4.4 to 9.1

percent) as compared with base-line values; smaller gains occurred in

the group given 5 mg daily. The discontinuation of alendronate

resulted in a gradual loss of effect, as measured by bone density and

biochemical markers of bone remodeling. Safety data, including

fractures and stature, did not suggest that prolonged treatment

resulted in any loss of benefit.

Conclusions The therapeutic effects of alendronate were sustained,

and the drug was well tolerated over a 10-year period. The

discontinuation of alendronate resulted in the gradual loss of its

effects.

> The widely used osteoporosis drug Fosamax keeps strengthening bones

for at

> least a decade, a study found, easing fears that it might eventually

> boomerang and start making hips and spines brittle and prone to

break.

>

> The study is the longest test yet of Fosamax, which was approved

in1995. It

> has gained quickly in popularity as an alternative to hormone

> supplements, which have been linked in recent years to heart

disease and

> cancer.

>

> The findings by an international team were published today in the

New

> England Journal of Medicine. The researchers, led by Dr. Henry Bone

of

> St. Medical Center in Detroit focused on 247 middle-age and

> elderly women with postmenopausal osteoporosis.

>

> The number of fractures in the final five years was too small to be

> considered statistical proof, but the raw numbers were encouraging.

> Among women who took 10 milligrams of Fosamax daily, 5 percent

> suffered back fractures. Among those who stopped taking the drug

> during the last five years of testing, 6.6 percent had such breaks.

>

> The blockbuster drug, which had $2.7 billion in world sales last

year,

> works by readjusting the continuous process of bone renewal. The

> research was backed by the maker of Fosamax, Merck & Co.