Anabolic Abaloparatide Looks Promising in Osteoporosis Fracture Prevention Save

The osteoporsis therapeutics arena is starting to fill with new drugs and novel mechanisms of action.

In addition to sclerostin inhibitor (romosozumab), another new agent (abaloparatide) is also in phase III trials. Abaloparatide is an anabolic, parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP) analog drug being developed by Radius Health  for the osteoposis market and is now in phase III clinical trials as a subcutaneous injection and possibly a transdermal patch. 

JAMA recently reported results from a phase III trial wherein 2463 women (mean age, 69 years) with osteoporosis, low BMD scores and a history of lumbar or vertebral fracture were blindly treated with daily subcutaneous injections of placebo (n = 821); abaloparatide, 80 μg (n = 824); or open-label teriparatide, 20 μg (n = 818) for 18 months. The primary outcome was the incidence of new vertebral fractures. (Citation source http://buff.ly/2cNPwyL)

While the 4.22% placebo group developed new vertebral fractures, they were significantly fewer in the abaloparatide (0.58%) and the teriparatide (0.84%) groups.

The Kaplan-Meier estimated event rate for nonvertebral fracture was 2.7% for abaloparatide, 4.7% for placebo (hazard ratio  0.57 [95% CI, 0.32-1.00]; P = .049), and 3.3% for teriparatide.

The frequency of hypercalcemia was lower with abaloparatide (3.4%) than with teriparatide (6.4%).

Further research is needed to understand the role and risks of abaloparatide in patients with osteoporosis.