New osteoporosis treatment successful in mice, study says

After initiating menopause in laboratory mice by removing their ovaries, scientists in New York were able to increase the rate of bone regeneration in these animals by injecting them with a polyclonal antibody. The researchers hope this treatment will prove to be a safe way for women to combat bone weakness associated with osteoporosis. Individuals suffering from this condition can also buy Actonel from Canadian and international online pharmacies to treat their symptoms.

These findings have been published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"Bone loss in women begins very early, at least two to three years before a woman's last period, and within eight to ten years, a woman will lose 50 percent of her lifetime bone loss. It occurs painlessly, without notice up to a point where women fracture," said said senior investigator Mone Zaidi, professor of medicine and structural and chemical biology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

Zaidi said the goal of these experiments is to find a means of averting osteoporosis completely, as opposed to treating it with medication and physical therapy.

"We believe that a future humanized monoclonal antibody to the follicle-stimulating hormone is likely to be safer than existing treatments because it will not reside in the bone," she said.

According to the National Osteoporosis Foundation, the condition is a threat for approximately 44 million Americans, and 55 percent of all persons over the age of 50. Although only 10 million people are documented as having osteoporosis, eight million of those are women. The organization also suspects that the bone-deteriorating condition has been under-diagnosed in Caucasian and African-American women. Even though osteoporosis is normally associated with aging, cases of individuals from every age group developing it have been reported.