Roche: Women more likely to stay on monthly osteoporosis therapy

Roche has claimed that women are more likely to stick with using its once-monthly postmenopausal osteoporosis (PMO) therapy, Boniva, instead of weekly equivalents like alendronate or risedronate.

The analysis of the patients took into account factors such as age, medical conditions and medication-related costs before concluding that the results were unique to Boniva, rather than being down to other non-clinical reasons.

Researchers discovered that Boniva users are 25 per cent more likely to persist with their treatment than women using weekly therapies in the same bisphosphonate class of drugs.

Roche claims that the results are “important” because previous studies have suggested the benefits of reducing fractures for patients who have persisted using daily or weekly bisphosphonate therapies.

Stuart L Silverman, clinical professor of medicine and rheumatology at Cedars-Sinai/UCLA, commented: “Treatment with bisphosphonates clearly reduces risk of fractures, but only if patients keep taking their medications.”

He added that the results of the analysis were encouraging because the asymptomatic nature of osteoporosis means that some patients lose motivation to continue treatment.

Boniva was developed in conjunction with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) as part of a worldwide collaboration to promote the drug, except in Japan.

In January, Proctor & Gamble and Sanofi-Aventis filed a lawsuit against Roche and GSK after they alleged that the Boniva producers made false claims about the drug’s effectiveness over other bisphosphonates like Actonel, a rival drug co-marketed by P&G and Sanofi-Aventis.