GIOP is the most common form of secondary osteoporosis. In the U.S., more than 10 percent of patients who receive long-term glucocorticoid treatment are diagnosed with a clinical fracture. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently approved the use of denosumab for the treatment of glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis (GIOP) in men and women at high risk of fracture, defined as a history of osteoporotic fracture, multiple risk factors for fracture, or patients who have failed or are intolerant to other available osteoporosis therapy.
“Patients on long-term systemic glucocorticoid medications can experience a rapid reduction in bone mineral density within a few months of beginning treatment,” said Kenneth F. Saag, M.D., M.Sc., professor of medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine and Immediate Past President of NOF. “With this approval, patients who receive treatment with glucocorticoids now have a new option to help improve their bone mineral density.”
For more information about osteoporosis and treatments, please visit the NOF website: https://www.bonehealthandosteoporosis.org/patients/treatment/