Age no bar to anti-osteoporosis agent teriparatide

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In postmenopausal women with the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis, age does not affect the safety and efficacy of the anti-osteoporosis drug teriparatide, which stimulates bone formation.

That's according to a look at data from the Fracture Prevention Trial on teriparatide use in a group of women at least 75 years of age in comparison to a group of women younger than 75 years.

The women were randomized to self-injected teriparatide (20 micrograms) or placebo daily for a median of 19 months. All of the women took oral calcium and vitamin D supplements. The team defined subgroups according to age younger than 75 (n = 841) and 75 or older (n = 244).

Dr. Steven Boonen, of Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, and colleagues report in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society that teriparatide was similarly safe and effective in the younger than 75 group and the 75 and older set.

They observed no significant "treatment-by-age" interactions for any bone turnover markers, femoral neck bone mineral density (BMD), vertebral fractures, non-vertebral fragility fractures, or height loss.

The researchers also looked for treatment-by-age interactions in women aged 80 and older, including 23 patients from the placebo group and 25 patients from the teriparatide group. "No unexpected" interactions were noted in the patients treated with teriparatide.

Boonen and colleagues note that because of its ability to stimulate bone formation and to partly restore the microarchitecture of the bone, "teriparatide is a new advance in the treatment of age-associated osteoporosis, particularly in those with severe osteoporosis and existing fractures."

SOURCE: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, May 2006.