Word: bone
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...elderly. Each year, more than 300,000 Americans over age 65 suffer hip fractures, mostly due to falls, and 15% to 20% die within a year of their injury because of complications from infection or blood clots. While current drug treatments for osteoporosis slow down the destruction of existing bone, the new data suggest that denosumab may be more effective in promoting bone density. In addition, the studies show that denosumab did not cause the serious side effects - including cancer and the disintegration of bone in the jaw - that are associated with bisphosphonate drugs like Boniva, Fosamax and Reclast...
...first study, involving 1,468 prostate-cancer patients receiving testosterone-depleting therapy - which can retard the growth of tumors but increases the risk of brittle bones and osteoporosis - half were given denosumab injections every six months for 36 months, and the other half were given a placebo. Over the course of the three-year study, the treatment group had a 62% lower risk of spinal fracture than the placebo group (1.5% of treated patients suffered a fracture vs. 3.9% of the placebo group) and a 5.6% increase in bone-mineral density in the spine. Patients receiving a placebo...
...results of that study, called the Denosumab Hormone Ablation Bone Loss Trial (HALT), were especially welcomed by cancer doctors, since it was the first study to show that a drug can lower the risk of fractures in men with prostate cancer. So far, most trials of osteoporosis treatments have focused on postmenopausal women, who are at high risk of bone loss with the sudden drop in estrogen that occurs after menopause...
...agent works a little differently than the bisphosphonates, which are designed to paralyze bone-destroying cells - cells that increase in number as people age. While the body continually destroys and replaces bone tissue throughout life, the destruction eventually begins to overtake the construction, and the result in older age is a patchier, weaker type of bone that is more prone to breaking. While bisphosphonates block the activity of bone-destroying cells, denosumab prevents new ones from forming altogether. The end result is a tipping of the bone balance away from bone destruction and toward bone formation. Early studies in mice...
...Khosla notes that neither the bisphosphonates nor denosumab actually causes the creation of new bone, which would be the ultimate goal of any osteoporosis treatment. The increases in bone-mineral density seen in the Journal studies is primarily due to minerals filling in the gaps left in the wake of bone destruction, he says. "In my mind, the dramatic changes will be seen with the anabolic agents," he says. "They hold the potential for completely curing the disease, reversing bone loss so you effectively are not osteoporotic any more...