Once-a-Year Drug Helps Counter Steroid-Linked Bone Loss

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For the current investigation, Reid and his colleagues spent a year comparing the effects of Reclast with those of Actonel, taken daily, among 833 patients already being treated with glucocorticoid drugs. The study took place at 54 health facilities spread across 12 European countries, Australia, Hong Kong, Israel and the United States.

The team found that among patients who had been taking glucocorticoids for more than three months prior to the study launch, one 5-milligram shot of Reclast increased bone mineral density (BMD) in the lower part of their back by an average of just over 4 percent. By contrast, daily doses of 5 milligrams of Actonel, taken orally, achieved a 2.7 percent rise in BMD in such patients.

Reclast was similarly effective among participants who had been taking glucocorticoids for less than three months, raising their BMD by 2.7 percent compared with the daily medications' 2.0 percent boost.

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"And there were virtually no fractures among the zoledronic [Reclast] patients over the course of the year," noted Reid. "The only thing with the single infusion that makes it a bit troublesome is that some patients might get a slightly flu-ish feeling for up to 48 hours after the infusion. And we would have to be wary of making sure that patients maintain a good level of vitamin D in their system when using this drug. But otherwise, there are no serious consequences to the method."

The new study follows a report, recently released by Austrian researchers, that indicated that zoledronic acid might also help lower the risk for breast cancer, as well as the risk for cancer spreading to bones. Those results were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual meeting, held in Chicago last May.

Dr. Mone Zaidi, a professor of medicine and physiology and director of the Mount Sinai Bone Program at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York City, described the current finding as a "major breakthrough."

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