Giving bones a break
A once-a-year injection of a new drug could substantially lower the risk of repeating a fracture after an initial hip fracture.
In an international study, 2,100 patients who had broken a hip were given an annual 15-minute infusion of either the osteoporosis drug Reclast or a placebo.
During the five years of monitoring, those taking the drug were 35% less likely to break another bone, according to a report in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The data “are very, very good in terms of both fracture reduction and effects on bone density,” says Stephen Honig, MD, director of the Osteoporosis Center of the New York University Hospital for Joint Diseases.
The latest study didn’t reveal any safety issues for Reclast, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in August, however the FDA plans to review Reclast and other osteoporosis drugs, including Actonel, Boniva and Fosamax, for possible links to irregular heartbeat.
Reclast costs about $1,000 per dose in the US.