New data presented at ENDO 2001

Studies were presented at the 83rd Annual Meeting of The EndocrineSociety in Denver, Colorado, which demonstrated the effects of Merck & Co's Fosamax (alendronate sodium), and tissue-selective estrogen and androgen modulators in the treatment and prevention of osteoporosis.

Trials with Fosamax, which acts as a specific inhibitor of osteoclast-mediated bone resorption, demonstrated that a once-weekly 70mg tablet of the drug for the treatment of osteoporosis in post-menopausal women built bone at the hip and spine to the same degree as a 10mg once-a-day regimen over a two-year period. Patients being treated with 70mg once-weekly of Fosamax showed an average increase from baseline in lumbar spine bone mineral density of 6.8%, compared to 7.4% in the once-daily treatment group, and therapeutic equivalency was also demonstrated for changes in bone mineral density at the hip and total body. Bone turnover markers also showed similar changes across dosing regimens.

Fosamax was approved last year by the US Food and Drug Administration as a weekly-dosage treatment (75mg) and prevention (35mg) for osteoporosis (Marketletter October 30, 2000). It is currently the most commonly-prescribed osteoporosis drug treatment in the USA and had sales of $350 million in the first quarter 2001 (Marketletter April 30).