Prof P Motta / Science Photo Library
Around 40% of women with postmenopausal osteoporosis will go on to sustain one or more fragility fractures.
Researchers investigated the effect of romosozumab, a monoclonal antibody, in a randomised controlled trial of 7,180 postmenopausal women aged 55–85 years old. All participants had abnormally low bone mineral density scores in their spine, hip and femoral neck and were assigned to either a monthly dose of romosozumab, or placebo.
After one year it was found that romosozumab was associated with an 83% lower risk of clinical vertebral fracture at 12 months, compared with placebo. The effect of the drug on the risk of vertebral fracture was found to be rapid, with only two additional vertebral fractures, of a total of 16, occurring in the second 6 months of therapy.
Presenting at the Annual European Congress of Rheumatology (14 June 2017), the authors concluded that romosozumab could be used as an effective treatment for postmenopausal women with osteoporosis who are at increased risk of fracture[1]
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References
[1] Geusens P, Oates M, Miyauchi A et al. Romosozumab rapidly reduces clinical vertebral fracture incidence: results from the FRAME study. Annual European Congress of Rheumatology 2017, Madrid, Spain 14–17 June 2017. Available at: https://www.eular.org/congresspressreleases/New_class_of_drug_significantly_reduces_spine_fracture_risk_in_postmenopausal_women_with_osteoporosis__OP0048.pdf (accessed 14 September 2017)
