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news.Eli Lilly has reported that new data, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, showed that in patients with glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis Forteo has significantly increased lumbar spine bone mineral density from baseline (8.2%) compared to Fosamax (3.9%) at 18 months of therapy.
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In this head-to-head comparator study, the increase in lumbar spine bone mineral density (BMD) was significantly greater in patients receiving teriparatide compared with alendronate at 6, 12, and 18 months of treatment, according to the company.
Data indicate that glucocorticoids are used by up to three out of every 100 adults (3%) over age 50, and up to 50% of individuals on chronic glucocorticoid therapy will eventually have an osteoporotic fracture.
Lead investigator Kenneth Saag, professor of medicine and epidemiology at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, said: “Currently, there is a lack of variety in treatment choices for patients receiving chronic glucocorticoid medication who are at high risk for fractures. These data are important because they show that teriparatide may have the potential to be a viable therapeutic option in the future for people with this disease.”