Researcher With Financial Interest In Bisphosphonates Verifies Increased Risk Of Atypical Femur Fractures With Bisphosphonates Like Fosamax, Reclast

A researcher with financial ties to a company that hopes to commercialize a bisphosphonate product (and to which he holds the patent) has confirmed that bisphosphonates like Fosamax and Reclast increase the risk of an atypical femur fracture. (what is a femoral shaft fracture?) Bisphosphonates are a class of osteoporosis drugs—including the very-popular drug Fosamax—that have been linked to increased risk of bone breaks like femur fractures as well as other potential Fosamax injuries.

The study, published on May 5, 2011 in the New England Journal of Medicine (“NEJM”), found that the increased risk of an “atypical” fracture in bisphosphonate-using women 55 and older was "higher with an increasing duration of bisphosphonate use, with an odds ratio of 1.3 . . . per 100 prescribed daily doses. This risk was approximately 10 times as high as a normal level of risk within the first 2 years of use and 50 times as high thereafter.”

Dr. Per Aspenberg and his associates conducted the study on 1,234 women 55 years and older who suffered from a femoral shaft fracture.

Dr. Aspenberg admitted in his disclosure form to the NEJM to “receiving consulting fees from [drug manufacturer] Eli Lilly and Amgen and grant support to his institution, Linköping University, from Eli Lilly and Amgen, as well as holding stock in AddBIO, a company trying to commercialize a method for bisphosphonate coating of implants to be inserted in bone, and holding a patent for this method.” Eli Lilly is not a current bisphosphonate manufacturer.

Common Bisphosphonates and their manufacturers include:

·       Fosamax (Merck & Company).

·       Boniva (Roche and GlaxoSmithKline) 

·       Actonel (Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals and Sanofi Pharmaceuticals).

·       Skelid (Sanofi Pharmaceuticals)

·       Didronel (Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals)

·       Reclast and Zometa (Novartis Pharmaceuticals)

The Spangenberg law firm has provided information on potential Fosamax lawsuits at www.my-fosamax-lawsuit.com. The website provides information on Fosamax femur fractures and other possibly Fosamax-related injuries. The Spangenberg law firm can also be reached at 1-877-696-3303.