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Blog (5)

Implanted Microchip Might Be Future of Drug Delivery

Posted 16 Feb 2012 by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, Feb. 16 – Remote controls may not be for just appliances anymore. In a new small study, women with severe osteoporosis were implanted with a microchip that releases bone-building drugs at the push of a button, a delivery method that could someday become common for various health conditions. Roughly 1.5-by-2.5 inches in size, the microchip significantly improved patient compliance with a drug regimen that normally requires painful daily self-injections, study authors said. The clinical trial, conducted on seven osteoporosis patients in Denmark, was the first to test a wirelessly controlled microchip in this capacity. "It frees patients from the burden of managing their disease on a daily basis," said Robert Farra, co-author of the study and president and chief operating officer of MicroCHIPS Inc., the Waltham, Mass., company that funded and supervised the trial. "I think there ... Read more

Related support groups: Osteoporosis, Forteo, Teriparatide

Study Suggests Osteoporosis Drug Might Treat Loss of Bone in Jaw

Posted 17 Oct 2010 by Drugs.com

SATURDAY, Oct. 15 – People suffering from a disfiguring loss of bone in the jaw may find help in the form of a long-used osteoporosis drug, two new studies suggest. Besides being linked to chronic, severe gum disease, this type of bone loss has also been connected in rare cases to the use of bisphosphonates, a different class of osteoporosis drugs. But the two papers in the Oct. 16 online issue of the New England Journal of Medicine report success with teriparatide (Forteo) in rebuilding bone. One report describes the case of an 88-year-old woman who had been taking the bisphosphonate alendronate (Fosamax) since suffering a hip fracture 10 years earlier. She had also been taking the corticosteroid prednisone for two decades. Experts have already noticed an uptick in the incidence of this rare but devastating condition in patients using bisphosphonates. According to an editorial ... Read more

Better Drug Emerges for Steroid-Induced Bone Loss

Posted 1 Dec 2009 by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, Oct. 29 – The drug teriparatide is better at increasing bone density and reducing vertebral fractures in patients with glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis than the drug alendronate, a new study finds. Glucocorticoids are steroid hormones produced in the body or contained in drugs that are used to control inflammation in patients with autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and Crohn's disease, as well as inflammatory conditions such as asthma. Glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis can occur in people taking steroid medications such as prednisone, prednisolone, dexamethasone and cortisone, according to background information provided in a news release about the study. The study participants included 428 patients, aged 22 to 89, with confirmed osteoporosis who had received more than 5 milligrams a day of prednisone or the equivalent for more than three months. ... Read more

Forteo Approved for Drug-Related Osteoporosis

Posted 24 Jul 2009 by Drugs.com

FRIDAY, July 24 – Eli Lilly's Forteo (teriparatide injection) has received expanded approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat osteoporosis associated with long-term use of glucocorticoid medication, the company said Thursday. Glucocorticoid therapy is commonly prescribed for inflammatory conditions including rheumatoid arthritis and obstructive lung disease. These drugs are among the most common causes of secondary osteoporosis, which increases users' risk of bone fracture, Lilly said in a news release. As many as three of every 100 adults over age 50 use this type of medication, Lilly said, and of those, about half will eventually have an osteoporotic bone fracture. In clinical testing among patients with glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis, Forteo increased bone mineral density after 18 months of use by an average of 7.2 percent at the spine, 3.6 percent at the ... Read more

Related support groups: Osteoporosis, Forteo

Slow-Healing Bones May Get Boost From Drug

Posted 14 Apr 2009 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, April 14 – A drug that boosts the body's production of stem cells appears to "jump-start" the bone-healing process to a point that older adults' bones heal as fast as young people's, suggest preliminary results released Tuesday by U.S. researchers. Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York gave teriparatide (Forteo) to 145 people who had bone fractures that had not healed, many for six months or more. They found that 93 percent of them showed significant healing and pain control after eight to 12 weeks. Teriparatide speeds the healing of fractures by changing the behavior and number of cartilage and bone stem cells involved in the healing process, the researchers found. "The decreased healing time is significant, especially when fractures are in hard-to-heal areas like the pelvis and the spine, where you can't easily immobilize the bone – and stop ... Read more