Animal experiments show a dramatic improvement in skeletal repair by teriparatide. We tested the hypothesis that recombinant teriparatide, at the 20 mg dose normally used for osteoporosis treatment or higher, would accelerate fracture repair in humans. Postmenopausal women (45 to 85 years of age) who had sustained a dorsally angulated distal radial fracture in need of closed reduction but no surgery were randomly assigned to 8 weeks of once-daily injections of placebo (n ¼ 34) or teriparatide 20 mg (n ¼ 34) or teriparatide 40 mg (n ¼ 34) within 10 days of fracture. Hypotheses were tested sequentially, beginning with the teriparatide 40 mg versus placebo comparison, using a gatekeeping strategy. The estimated median time from fracture to first radiographic evidence of complete cortical bridging in three of four cortices was 9.1, 7.4, and 8.8 weeks for placebo and teriparatide 20 mg and 40 mg, respectively (overall p ¼ .015). There was no significant difference between the teriparatide 40 mg versus placebo groups ( p ¼ .523). In post hoc analyses, there was no significant difference between teriparatide 40 mg versus 20 mg (p ¼ .053); however, the time to healing was shorter in teriparatide 20 mg than placebo ( p ¼ .006). The primary hypothesis that teriparatide 40 mg would shorten the time to cortical bridging was not supported. The shortened time to healing for teriparatide 20 mg compared with placebo still may suggest that fracture repair can be accelerated by teriparatide, but this result should be interpreted with caution and warrants further study. ß

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In women with osteoporosis treated with antiresorptives, greater bone turnover increases were achieved by switching to teriparatide, whereas greater BMD increases were achieved by adding teriparatide.

Osteoporosis is a chronic disease and requires long-term treatment with pharmacologic therapy to ensure sustained antifracture benefit. Denosumab reduced the risk for new vertebral, nonvertebral, and hip fractures over 36 months in the Fracture Reduction Evaluation of Denosumab in Osteoporosis Every 6 Months (FREEDOM) trial. Whereas discontinuation of denosumab has been associated with transient increases in bone remodeling and declines in bone mineral density (BMD), the effect on fracture risk during treatment cessation is not as well characterized. To understand the fracture incidence between treatment groups after cessation of investigational product, we evaluated subjects in FREEDOM who discontinued treatment after receiving two to five doses of denosumab or placebo, and continued study participation for ≥7 months. The off-treatment observation period for each individual subject began 7 months after the last dose and lasted until the end of the study. This subgroup of 797 subjects (470 placebo, 327 denosumab), who were evaluable during the off-treatment period, showed similar baseline characteristics for age, prevalent fracture, and lumbar spine and total hip BMD T-scores. During treatment, more placebo-treated subjects as compared with denosumab-treated subjects sustained a fracture and had significant decreases in BMD. During the off-treatment period (median 0.8 years per subject), 42% versus 28% of placebo- and denosumab-treated subjects, respectively, initiated other therapy. Following discontinuation, similar percentages of subjects in both groups sustained a new fracture (9% placebo, 7% denosumab), resulting in a fracture rate per 100 subject-years of 13.5 for placebo and 9.7 for denosumab (hazard ratio [HR] 0.82; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.49–1.38), adjusted for age and total hip BMD T-score at baseline. There was no apparent difference in fracture occurrence pattern between the groups during the off-treatment period. In summary, there does not appear to be an excess in fracture risk after treatment cessation with denosumab compared with placebo during the off-treatment period for up to 24 months. © 2013 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.

Although there were no differences in back pain-related endpoints, patients receiving teriparatide had greater skeletal benefit than those receiving risedronate.