Monthly Bone-building Pill Remedies Osteoporosis

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The drug ibandronate can be taken just once a month and is still effective for treating the bone-thinning condition osteoporosis in postmenopausal women, according to a new report.

Ibandronate is a bisphosphonate drug, taken by mouth, and goes by the brand name Boniva or Bonviva, depending where you live.

Taking 150 milligrams of the drug monthly is equivalent to taking 2.5 milligrams daily in terms of reducing bone fractures by 50 percent, Dr. Jean-Yves Reginster from the University of Liege, Belgium, told Reuters Health.

"I feel that the 150-milligram monthly dose of ibandronate is of a real benefit for the patients," he said.

Reginster and colleagues investigated the feasibility of once-monthly dosing with oral ibandronate in 144 postmenopausal women 55 to 80 years old.

At doses ranging from 50 to 150 milligrams, once-monthly ibandronate was well tolerated with a safety profile similar to that of an inert "placebo," the team reports in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

Stomach disturbances, which can be a problem with this class of drugs, occurred with similar frequency and severity in all the study groups (including the placebo group), the report indicates.

At all doses studied, the researchers found, once-monthly ibandronate reduced bone turnover, and these reductions were significantly better than placebo in all but the 50-milligram treatment group.

"Since low adherence to bisphosphonates therapy is one of the major issues in the management of osteoporosis," Reginster said, "we really hope that with this new formulation patients will be more prone to take medication with better observance and persistence."

SOURCE: Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, September 2005.