Fosamax seen as better bone boost
From Times wire reports
The Merck and Co. drug Fosamax does a better job at preventing bone deterioration than vitamin D for people using steroids to treat arthritis, a study recently showed.
Fosamax was found to increase the density of bones in the spine by just more than 2% in the 100 volunteers who received it along with steroids for 18 months, the study said.
The 101 volunteers treated with alfacalcidol, a form of vitamin D, saw their density decrease by almost 2% over the 18-month period, according to the study in last week’s New England Journal of Medicine led by Ron de Nijs of the University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands.
