ATLANTA — For the first time, an osteoporosis drug has reduced deaths and prevented new fractures in elderly patients with broken hips, according to new research.
Some experts called the drop in deaths “striking” but said other drugs could have a similar effect.
In the study, there were 28 percent fewer deaths and 35 percent fewer fractures in the group that got a once-a-year infusion of the bone drug Reclast compared with those who got a dummy treatment.
No other osteoporosis drug study published in at least 15 years has shown such a pronounced reduction in deaths, said Dr. Kenneth Lyles of Duke University Medical Center, the lead author.
The study was released online Monday by The New England Journal of Medicine.
The research was funded by Novartis, which makes Reclast, and Lyles has two patent applications for the use of the drug.
Under the name Zometa, the drug was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for cancer patients in 2002. It was approved for post-menopausal osteoporosis last month, under the name Reclast.
More than 300,000 hip fractures occur in the United States each year. Often they trigger a downward spiral — roughly one in five elderly victims die within a year of breaking their hip.
Generally, doctors tell hip-fracture patients to take Fosamax and other bisphosphonates, a class of osteoporosis drugs that stops bone breakdown. But many patients do not take the pills because they cause heartburn and other symptoms. They also are a hassle for elderly patients: You must take it on an empty stomach in the morning, and wait a half hour before eating.
In other health news:
‘Superbug’ ear infections
A vaccine that has dramatically curbed pneumonia and other serious illnesses in children has an unfortunate effect: promoting new superbugs that cause ear infections.
On Monday, doctors reported discovering the first such germ that is resistant to all drugs approved to treat childhood ear infections. Nine toddlers in Rochester, N.Y., have had the germ and researchers say it may be turning up elsewhere, too.
It is a strain of strep bacteria not included in the pneumococcal vaccine, Wyeth’s Prevnar, which came on the market in 2000. It is recommended for children under age 2.
Doctors say parents should continue to have their toddlers get the shots because the vaccine prevents serious illness and even saves lives.
A different pneumonia vaccine has long been available for adults but it doesn’t work in children, so Prevnar was hailed as a breakthrough.
Pregnancy and drugs
Doctors aren’t doing a very good job of warning young women to avoid getting pregnant when they’re taking prescription drugs that can cause birth defects, a new study suggests.
Fewer than half of the women taking the medicines didn’t get counseling from their doctor about using contraceptives or other birth control measures, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center researchers found in a study of nearly 500,000 women.
“The message is not that women should avoid taking prescription medications that they need and that their doctors recommend,” said Dr. Eleanor Bimla Schwarz, lead author of the study in today’s Annals of Internal Medicine.
But women should discuss the potential pregnancy risks with their doctors before taking the drugs, she said.
Medicines that may cause birth defects include some antibiotics, acne medications, cholesterol reducers, anti-seizure drugs, sleep aids and blood thinners.
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