FDA OKs Bone Drug to Prevent Fracture in Certain Cancer Patients

MONDAY, Sept. 19 (HealthDay News) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has expanded approval for the Amgen bone-building drug Prolia (denosumab) to include prostate cancer or breast cancer patients who are taking certain hormonal therapies.

The drug was initially approved in 2010 to help prevent osteoporosis in post-menopausal women.

Breast cancer patients who use a class of hormone therapy known as aromatase inhibitors to limit estrogen production, and prostate cancer patients who are treated with hormones that limit production of androgens (including testosterone), may be at greater risk of bone fracture.

Amgen is based in Thousand Oaks, Calif.

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The FDA has more about this drug.

– Scott Roberts

Last Updated: Sept. 19, 2011