Today’s post comes from guest author Brenda Fulmer from Pasternack Tilker Ziegler Walsh Stanton & Romano.
Post-menopausal women welcomed the class of drugs called “bisphosphonates,” which purportedly increase bone density by slowing the body’s natural turnover of bone cells and were touted as a safe and effective treatment for osteoporosis and osteopenia. Bisphosphonates are also widely used to treat both male and female patients whose cancer has spread to their bones and by patients who have a progressive bone disease called Paget’s disease.
Many patients who are being prescribed “bisphosphonates” for the treatment and prevention of osteoporosis are unaware of any risks associated with the use of such drugs.
Popular bisphosphonate drugs and their manufacturers include:
- Actonel (Sanofi-Aventis/Procter & Gamble),
- Aredia (Novartis),
- Boniva (Roche Laboratories/Glaxo SmithKline),
- Didronel (OSG Norwich/Procter & Gamble),
- Fosamax (Merck),
- Skelid (Sanofi-Synthelabo),
- and Zometa (Novartis).
Fosamax is also available as the generic drug, alendronate. The drugs are available as pills as well as injections, and may be taken daily, several times per week, monthly, or event annually.
Patients who took these popular osteoporosis drugs have suffered severe bone fractures due to a weakening in bone structures caused by the drugs.
In a sad irony, patients who took these popular osteoporosis drugs in hopes of improving their bone health have actually suffered severe bone fractures, such as atypical femur fractures, due to a weakening in bone structures caused by the drugs. In addition, these bisphosphonate drugs have been linked with Continue reading Drug Watch: Osteoporosis Drugs Are Giving Women Severe Complications