New Potential Osteoporosis Drug Stimulates Bone Growth And Prevents Fractures

A new promising osteoporosis drug is up for approval from federal regulators next spring. The potential drug, abaloparatide, is found to stimulate bone growth and prevent fractures.

The findings of the clinical trial were printed in JAMA, the journal of the American Medical Association on Tuesday. The clinical trial was conducted by Radius. The scientists compared the new drug with placebo and with Eli Lilly's Forteo, which is the only other bone-building drug on the market, according to New York Times.

The clinical trial involved 2,463 female osteoporosis patients. They are treated with a daily injection of abaloparatide for 18 months. The results showed that there was a significantly greater reduction in the incidence of new vertebral fractures when compared to placebo. Although, it was just a little strong on nonvertebral fractures compared to placebo. On the other hand, with a P value of 0.049--- meaning it just squeaked into significance yet it still did manage to hit its trial targets.

Dr. Paul Miller, medical director at the Colorado Center for Bone Research and the lead author of the study said that the landmark ACTIVE trial (clinical trial) results are significant and further validate abaloparatide's potential to consistently, substantially and rapidly reduce both new vertebral and nonvertebral fractures in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis. He further said that approximately two million osteoporotic fractures happen yearly in the U.S., which creates physical and psychological burden for affected women by diminishing their independence and quality life. He added that there is a great unmet medical need for therapies which could provide more consistent potent and early benefits to patients, as noted by Fierce Biotech.

Medical specialists said that if the new Radius drug is approved, it will cost less than Forteo, which is priced at $2,551.77 in 2016. The new drug if approved will probably compete with Forteo drug. The new drug, abaloparatide, is designed to help with bone building activity and acts as a synthetic peptide that engages the parathyroid hormone receptor (PTH1 receptor). The new drug will also fill faster the holes in osteoporotic bone.