With age, the likelihood of falls increases. More than one third of adults age 65 and older in the US fall at least once each year. Injuries from falls can be devastating. More than 90% of hip fractures are caused by a fall to the side onto the hip. Falls can be deadly, too. Statistics… Read more
FDA-approved Medicines for Osteoporosis
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires evaluation of osteoporosis medicines in large clinical trials that assess the effect of the study medicine on fracture reduction. The Food and Drug Administration has approved the following medicines for treatment of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. The bisphosphonate class makes up the largest group of medicines available. These… Read more
Forteo
Forteo® (teriparatide) is a FDA-approved medicine for treatment of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women, men, and individuals treated with steroids. Forteo is the only osteoporosis medicine that targets the bone building cells, osteoblasts. This is in contrast to all the other medicines that work by lowering the rate of bone breakdown and targeting the osteoclast. How… Read more
Fosamax
Fosamax® was the first prescription medicine FDA approved for treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis in 1995. In 2008, generic versions of Fosamax, which is alendronate became available the United States. Because of a large cost differential between brand and generic tablets, if you receive a prescription for Fosamax most likely it will be filled as generic… Read more
Fractures
The risk of osteoporotic fracture ultimately depends on two factors: the mechanical strength of bone and the forces applied to it. When the force of an impact exceeds the strength of bone, the bone breaks. How Many Broken Bones In the United States over 2 million fractures occur each year in adults over the age… Read more
FRAX
Fracture risk assessment has been a part of overall evaluation of osteoporosis. However, the challenge was trying to systematically measure one’s risk. A scientific committee of the World Health Organization undertook the task. They developed a tool based epidemiologic data from research studies across the world and tested for validity in thousands of other subjects.… Read more