Teriparatide and Raloxifene May Reduce Vertebral Fracture Risk
BY LAUREN UZDIENSKI, JUNE 29, 2009
We reported back in April that teriparatide, a recombinant form of parathyroid hormone marketed by Eli Lilly as Forteo, may help bones to heal following a fracture. Now a new study published in JBJS reports on an additional application for teriparatide: preventing new vertebral fractures in osteoporotic patients.
The analysis was conducted from previously-published data from about 1,200 patients in the Fracture Prevention Trial. These patients were able to walk, had undergone menopause at least five years previously and had at least one moderate or two mild atraumatic vertebral fractures at baseline.
At approximately two years, teriparatide was shown to "significantly reduce" the occurrence of new vertebral fractures in the study population. New, new adjacent and new nonadjacent vertebral fractures were reduced by 72%, 75% and 70%, respectively, when compared to placebo.
Raloxifene, a selective estrogen receptor modulator used to prevent osteoporosis, was found to have similar benefits. New, new adjacent and new nonadjacent vertebral fractures were reduced by 54%, 54% and 53%, respectively, when compared to placebo. The raloxifene data was pulled from about 2,500 patients in the Multiple Outcomes of Raloxifene Evaluation (MORE) trial. Raloxifene is marketed as Evista by Eli Lilly, who also provided funding for the study.
