Zosano patch equivalent to Lilly's Forteo

Zosano Pharma, a privately-held US pharmaceutical company developing products using a novel transdermal delivery technology, has presented  positive results from a Phase II study of the ZP-PTH rapid delivery  patch for the treatment of osteoporosis at the International Symposium  on Osteoporosis held in Washington, DC.

The study was a randomized, multicenter, double-blind, multi-dose trial  designed to determine safety and efficacy of ZP-PTH to stimulate the  formation of new bone and reduce the risk of fractures, compared with  Eli Lilly's Forteo (teriparatide) injection.

The results demonstrated that daily administration of each of three  doses of ZP-PTH for 24 weeks resulted in a significant gain in  bone-mineral density of the lumbar spine over placebo (p<0.001). The  ZP-PTH 40mcg patch, which effectively delivers 16 mcg of PTH, was  comparable to the placebo injection in mean percent change from baseline  in lumbar spine BMD (4.97% versus 3.55%), as well as a significant  increase in total hip mean percentage change from baseline in BMD  (+1.33%) compared to placebo.