[New development in bisphosphonate treatment. Clinical significance of combinatorial therapies with bisphosphonates and parathyroid hormone for osteoporosis]

Abstract

Bisphosphonates are the first line therapy to prevent osteoporotic fractures in daily practice. However, their preventive effect for fracture is not always satisfactory. In particular, more effective therapeutic tools are needed for patients who report osteoporotic fractures during treatment with bisphosphonates. To this end, treatment with parathyroid hormone has demonstrated potent bone anabolic effects and efficacy to prevent fractures, and physicians in Japan are looking forward to government approval to its clinical application. However, since, due to its characteristics, such as daily injection and expensive costs, parathyroid hormone is not the best candidate as the first line therapy for osteoporosis, we need to investigate how to use parathyroid hormone in combination with other drugs for osteoporosis, such as bisphosphonates.