Treatment patterns in women with postmenopausal osteoporosis using abaloparatide: a real-world observational study

Abstract

Review of medical records from 173 women with osteoporosis who received abaloparatide treatment revealed that 96.0% had at least one visit for osteoporosis management and 55.5% had medication support group access. The most common reasons for discontinuing treatment were financial (31.2%) and tolerability (22.8%). Most patients (64.8%) completed treatment as prescribed.

Purpose: Abaloparatide is approved for the treatment of women with postmenopausal osteoporosis at high risk for fracture. This study evaluated real-world treatment patterns for patients new to abaloparatide, regardless of osteoporosis treatment history.

Methods: Data for patients with ≥ 1 prescription for abaloparatide were collected retrospectively from six academic and clinical practice settings across the US.

Results: A total of 173 patients were enrolled (mean [SD] age, 69.8 [7.4] years). At the time of abaloparatide treatment initiation, 78.6% had received other osteoporosis medications. Mean (SD) time from discontinuation of osteoporosis medications prior to initiation of abaloparatide was 1.7 (3.2) years. Twenty-four months of follow-up data from the initiation date of abaloparatide was collected from 94.0% of patients and 6.0% of patients had 12-24 months of follow-up. During the follow-up period, 96.0% of patients had at least one visit for osteoporosis management and 55.5% had access to a medication support program. The median duration of therapy was 18.6 months and 105/162 (64.8%) completed abaloparatide treatment as prescribed. The most common reasons for treatment discontinuation were financial (31.2%) and tolerability (22.8%). Following completion of a course of treatment with abaloparatide, 82/162 (50.6%) patients transitioned to another osteoporosis medication. The median time between abaloparatide treatment course completion and the initiation of follow-on medication was 21 days.

Conclusion: Most patients completed treatment with abaloparatide as prescribed, and over half continued with an antiresorptive agent. This favorable conduct may be the result of regular follow-up visits and accessibility to both medication and patient support services.

Keywords: Abaloparatide; Anabolic therapy; Osteoporosis; Treatment patterns; Treatment persistence.

Fig. 1

Patient enrollment. Of the original 193 patients recontacted from HEOR-001, 51 patients were lost to follow up and 142 patients reconsented to participate in HEOR-002. An additional 31 new patients met eligibility criteria for a total of 173 patients participating in HEOR-002. Primary patient data from the 173 participants was collected and entered into an electronic case report form (eCRF)

Fig. 2

Study design. Patient data collected from electronic case report form (eCRF) were reviewed for medical and treatment history during the preindex period. The index date refers to the date of abaloparatide treatment initiation, which occurred during the identification period between July 2017 and April 2019. The postindex period was a period of ≥ 24 months from the date of abaloparatide treatment initiation, between July 2019 and April 2021. Additional follow-up (i.e., DXA testing) occurred up until the date of study enrollment