Monthly Boniva raises treatment compliance

Swiss drug major Roche says that data from the ongoing MOBILE (Monthly Oral iBandronate in LadiEs) study, shows that osteoporosis patients receiving a monthly administration of Boniva (ibandronate sodium), the agent it is co-developing with the UK's GlaxoSmithKline, were 25% more likely to maintain treatment compliance than those taking weekly bisphosphonates.

Lead investigator Stuart Silverman, a clinical professor of medicine and rheumatology at Cedars-Sinai/UCLA, in the USA, said that bisphosphonates can reduce the risk of fractures with continued use. Dr Silverman added that "the greater [treatment] persistence seen with once-monthly compared to once-weekly bisphosphonates is encouraging, particularly because the findings were consistent across two large and robust US claims databases."