BOSTON -- One IV treatment a year rather than a pill a day may be enough to prevent osteoporosis, a study suggests.
The research involves a drug called zoledronic acid, which is approved for use in cancer patients to stop calcium from leaching from bones.
It will be about five years before doctors know whether the drug prevents fractures, because the study in today's New England Journal of Medicine was only a one-year look at Zometa's effect on bones. The manufacturer, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp., which paid for the research, has begun longer studies.
"I think it almost comes into the category of a flu shot, rather than taking pills every day and having side effects," said Dr. Ian R. Reid of the University of Auckland, New Zealand, who led the study.
The drug slowed bone loss rates and boosted density for up to a year after treatment.
Osteoporosis weakens bones in more than 10 million Americans, mostly women. Treatments include pills, hormones or estrogen supplements.
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