Two Years of Denosumab and Teriparatide Administration in Women With Osteoporosis (The DATA Extension Study)

Unlike treatments for the vast majority of chronic dis- eases, US Food and Drug Administration–-approved osteoporosis treatments are currently limited to the use of a single drug at a fixed dose. Furthermore, although the therapeutic options for osteoporosis treatment have expanded greatly over the past 2 decades, no currently approved therapy is able to restore skeletal integrity in most patients with established osteoporosis. Current medications approved to treat postmenopausal osteoporosis can be separated into 2 categories. The most commonly used drugs are the antiresorptive medications such as the nitrogen-containing bisphosphonates and the receptor activator of nuclear factor kB ligand inhibitor denosumab. Whereas both bisphosphonates and denosumab inhibit osteoclastic bone resorption (and, to a lesser degree, bone formation), they do so by different cellular and molecular mechanisms….