Forteo Osteoporosis Medication
Human parathyroid hormone teriparatide treatment
The human parathyroid hormone teriparatide is an anabolic steroid that is able to stimulate the bone remodeling system into building bone. Teriparatide is manufactured by Eli Lily under the brand name of Forteo. The use of Forteo has been approved by the FDA for women who have a bone mineral density T-score of less than -3.5, and are therefore considered to be at great risk of getting an osteoporotic fracture.
Taking Forteo
Forteo comes in a cartridge that delivers a dose of 20mg per day via a multidose pen for a four week period. The Forteo (human parathyroid hormone teriparatide) is injected (through the pen) into either the thigh or abdomen subcutaneous tissue.
How does Forteo work?
Forteo is an anabolic steroid that is able to regulate metabolism of the bone, the absorption of calcium in the intestines and the reabsorption of calcium and phosphate in the renal tube. The steroid acts to stimulate osteoblasts into creating new bone in trabecular and cortical surfaces. After the Forteo drug is injected through the pen in either the thigh or abdomen the calcium levels in the serum increase after about 2 hours and reach a maximum after 5 hours. After about 24 hours the levels of calcium in the serum will return to normal levels.
Effectiveness of Forteo
The use of the human parathyroid hormone teriparatide (Forteo) has very effective results; it has been shown in clinical trials to reduce the risk of spinal fractures by as much as 65% in the one and half years after treatment, and to reduce non vertebral fractures by 53%.
Side effects of Forteo
Unfortunately there is little safety information available for Forteo, therefore the use of the human parathyroid hormone teriparatide as an osteoporosis treatment is limited to two years.
The drug has many side effects, which occur at quite a high percentage: these include nausea, dizziness, leg cramps, post injection hypercalcemia and arthralgias. It is recommended that people who are being treated by radiation therapy, have skeletal malignancies, or Paget's disease do not take Forteo.
ReferencesBazaldua and Bruder (2004). Teriparatide (Forteo) for osteoporosis. Fam Physician. :1983 to1984
Ettinger et al (2004). Differential effects of teriparatide on BMD after treatment with raloxifene or alendronate. J Bone Miner Res. :745 to 751
Mayes (2007) Review of post menopausal osteoporosis pharmacology. Nutr. Clin. Prac. 22:3: 276 to 285