The FINANCIAL — FORTEO significantly increased lumbar spine volumetric bone mineral density (vBMD) compared to risedronate in men with glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis, according to new data of Eli Lilly and Company.
Results from the study's primary endpoint showed that at 18 months, both FORTEO and risedronate significantly increased lumbar spine vBMD, and greater increases were observed in patients taking FORTEO, according to Eli Lilly and Company.
Measurement was completed using conventional and high-resolution quantitative computed tomography (QCT), a newer technology that uses modern clinical scanners to provide tri-dimensional BMD and bone structural evaluations. QCT is better able to discriminate between subjects with and without prevalent vertebral fractures compared to conventional areal dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and is better suited to identify patients with glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis at highest risk for fracture.3
"Though we often think of osteoporosis as a women's disease, men can get it too. In fact, approximately two million American men have osteoporosis," said Claus-C. Gluer, Ph.D., professor of medical physics, Department of Diagnostic Radiology, University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein. "These study results can help healthcare professionals better determine which treatment may be best suited for individual male patients with glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis," he added.
"Data evaluating osteoporosis medications in men are relatively scarce," said Fernando Marin, M.D., Ph.D., medical fellow, EIi Lilly and Company. "Lilly is committed to furthering scientific knowledge in this underserved patient population to help reduce barriers to men with osteoporosis getting the treatment they need," he added.
FORTEO is used in both men and postmenopausal women with osteoporosis who are at high risk for having broken bones (fractures). FORTEO is used in both men and women with osteoporosis due to use of glucocorticoid medicines, such as prednisone, for several months, who are at high risk for having broken bones (fractures). FORTEO can be used by people who have had a fracture related to osteoporosis, or who have several risk factors for fracture, or who cannot use other osteoporosis treatments, according to Eli Lilly and Company.
During the drug testing process, the medicine in FORTEO caused some rats to develop osteosarcoma, which, in humans, is a serious but rare bone cancer. Osteosarcoma has been reported rarely in people who took FORTEO, and it is unknown if people who take FORTEO have a higher chance of getting the disease. Before patients take FORTEO, patients should tell their healthcare provider if they have Paget's disease of bone, are a child or young adult whose bones are still growing or have had radiation therapy.
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