Revised labeling for prescription and over-the-counter proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) will warn that these stomach acid–reducing medications could increase patients’ risk of hip, wrist, and spine fractures, US health authorities announced. The FDA’s decision to add new precautionary information to PPI labeling is based on data from 7 epidemiological studies published since 2006. Six of the 7 showed a relationship between PPI use and an increased risk of fractures. Most of the patients in the studies were aged 50 years or older; the increased risk of fracture was seen primarily in this group.

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions have discovered the third in a sequence of genes that accounts for previously unexplained forms of osteogenesis imperfecta (OI), a genetic condition that weakens bones and results in frequent fractures. The newly identified gene contains the information needed to make the protein Cyclophilin B. This protein is part of a complex of three proteins that modifies collagen, folding it into a precise molecular configuration.

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Results from a late-stage trial of Amgen’s denosumab in advanced cancer patients with bone metastases showed that the drug delayed skeletal related events such as fracture, radiation to bone, surgery to bone or spinal cord compression. The phase 3 trial compared denosumab administered subcutaneously with FDA approved Zometa, or zoledronic acid, administered as an intravenous infusion to treat bone metastases in 1,776 advanced cancer patients with solid tumors.