Better combination of bone protecting drugs discovered

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

Treatment with a bone building drug followed by a further year on a standard osteoporosis drug shows the best increases yet in bone density.
There are a number of drugs which can be used to prevent osteoporosis, by increasing bone density. Scientists at the University of California, San Francisco, now reveal that a year on a form of parathyroid hormone, followed by a year on alendronate, gives the best increases in spine and hip density seen so far.

Parathyroid hormone is a bone-building drug. Alendronate is a bisphosphonate, which stops bone degradation. It looks as if the two might be a winning combination. For instance, in the group of 238 post-menopausal women in the trial, scans showed a 31 per cent increase in spine bone density with the combination. Parathyroid hormone followed by placebo gave only a 14 per cent increase.

Source
New England Journal of Medicine 11th August 2005

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