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1st
appeared 16 June 1999
Study Results Suggest First Potential
Osteoporosis Cure
A UCSF study of a new treatment for osteoporosis in postmenopausal women restored bone
mass to its original level in nearly two-thirds of the women participating in the trial,
suggesting a way to cure the debilitating disease for the first time.
 Claude Arnaud, professor emeritus of medicine and physiology at UCSF
and director of the osteoporosis study funded by the National Institute of Aging, is
senior author of the report, which was presented Tuesday at the annual meeting of the
Endocrine Society in San Diego. First author Bruce Roe, assistant clinical professor of
medicine at UCSF, presented the paper.
The new drug treatment -- a synthetic version of part of a natural human protein called
parathyroid hormone (hPTH 1-34) -- was three times more effective at reversing bone loss
than the best drugs currently available, the UCSF scientists reported.
About 25 million older women in the US suffer bone loss due to osteoporosis, which results
in 1.5 million fractures a year. About half of those fractures (700,000) occur in the
spine and more than 280,000 are hip fractures, which hasten patients' move to wheelchairs,
nursing homes and irreversible debility, Arnaud said.
The annual cost of osteoporosis in the US is about $14 billion, a figure expected to
increase to some $240 billion over the next 50 years as the population ages, Arnaud said.
"This is comparable to our current defense budget, and is an amount that our country
probably cannot afford," he said. "If bone loss can be restored, we can avoid
much suffering and spare society this enormous cost."
Researchers hope to launch a larger study to resolve concerns about possible side effects
and to confirm the promising results.
Links:
Full press release
National Institute of Aging
The Endocrine Society
Daybreak
osteoporosis archives
Related Daybreak stories:
Book by UCSF Professor
Details the Prevention and Treatment of Osteoporosis
Study Shows Drug Reduces
Risk of Spine and Hip Fractures in Women with Osteoporosis
Source: Wallace Ravven, News
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