Monthly bone-building pill remedies osteoporosis

By Will Boggs, MD

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – The drug ibandronate can be
taken just once a month and is still effective for treating the
bone-thinning condition osteoporosis in postmenopausal women,
according to a new report.

Ibandronate is a bisphosphonate drug, taken by mouth, and
goes by the brand name Boniva or Bonviva, depending where you
live.

Taking 150 milligrams of the drug monthly is equivalent to
taking 2.5 milligrams daily in terms of reducing bone fractures
by 50 percent, Dr. Jean-Yves Reginster from the University of
Liege, Belgium, told Reuters Health.

“I feel that the 150-milligram monthly dose of ibandronate
is of a real benefit for the patients,” he said.

Reginster and colleagues investigated the feasibility of
once-monthly dosing with oral ibandronate in 144 postmenopausal
women 55 to 80 years old.

At doses ranging from 50 to 150 milligrams, once-monthly
ibandronate was well tolerated with a safety profile similar to
that of an inert “placebo,” the team reports in the Journal of
Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

Stomach disturbances, which can be a problem with this
class of drugs, occurred with similar frequency and severity in
all the study groups (including the placebo group), the report
indicates.

At all doses studied, the researchers found, once-monthly
ibandronate reduced bone turnover, and these reductions were
significantly better than placebo in all but the 50-milligram
treatment group.

“Since low adherence to bisphosphonates therapy is one of
the major issues in the management of osteoporosis,” Reginster
said, “we really hope that with this new formulation patients
will be more prone to take medication with better observance
and persistence.”

SOURCE: Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism,
September 2005.